[the truth]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

This is untrue because once its been discovered they are stealing HB, they are taken to court, and ordered to pay it back (even at small payments per week) and once they have a fraud charge, the next place they move to automatically the landlord gets the HB paid to them...

I know paying the stolen money back to the council doesn't help the landlord though,l but its untrue that there is no comeback and also untrue that people can just move on and do the same thing again.

I disagree that rent should always go direct to the landlord because the landlord is less likely to fix problems that are their responsibility if the tenant (or council) is still paying rent. My mother had to withhold rent for nearly 3 months to get her landlord to fix the boiler. Had she not done that, we would have been living with a broken boiler for months on end as the landlord just wouldnt communicate with his tenants. Granted my mother was working and as such wasnt on housing benefit...but the option of withholding rent (not spending it though, keep it separate to give in a lump sum once repairs are done) should always be there IMO.

the landlords are not going to chase down people who live on benefits who in many cases have stolen the rent money to pay for drink or drugs etc its a total waste of time and money chasing these people, so these private landlords are left simply waiting to remove these people , pay for the damages and house repairs and write off the rent money as lost...that's the reality its phenomenally difficult being a landlord in this country

if a landlord wont fix a boiler and you pay by housing benefits then simply ring the council and they will stop the housing benefits and if the house is in disrepair, they will send out a housing offices who may put a compulsory home improvement order on the house....if youre paying privately and the landlord is useless, leave