How about the tenant who refuses to move out of my sole property at the end of the tenancy agreement, let out while working abroad as I was unable to get a job in the UK. Tenant is not paying rent and the total cost to me at present is over £4,000. Meanwhile the 'poor' tenant has moved her boyfriend in, he drives an expensive car and there is nothing I can do about it until a judgment is made. Don't talk to me about private landlords being the scourge of working class communities. How about the the leeching, morally bankrupt tenants? You don't even begin to understand. I work my socks off away from home to lose it all on paying to get rid of a piece of scum.

I agree with Bill Irving and have already written to the Government about this latest farce. Most tenants do not want the housing benefit/allowance or Local Housing Allowance paid to them.

In case this Government cannot remember what it promised before the last election, Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said, "the Conservative Party would reform the local housing allowance system if it came into power".

He said "the current system, where local housing allowance is paid to tenants and they use it to pay their rent, had led landlords to refuse to rent to people on benefits".

Previously councils paid housing benefit direct to claimants’ landlords.

Mr Shapps said: ‘The current situation is bad for everyone, and I can see no reason why people on local housing allowance shouldn’t enjoy the freedom to have their housing benefit paid direct to their landlord.’

The then, Shadow Work and Pensions Minister, Andrew Selous added:

"We believe that tenants should have the choice of where their rent money is paid to, especially if it makes the difference between a property being available to them or not. The government are blind to the problems that low income tenants are facing and should restore this choice to tenants now".

Benefit can be paid to the landlord under certain circumstances but the tenant and landlord have to jump through an unnecessary set of hoops to achieve this.

Mr Shapps said, "I can "see" no reason why people on local housing allowance shouldn’t enjoy the freedom to have their housing benefit paid direct to their landlord’..........perhaps he should have gone to Specsavers!?

As has been asked of me; were these promises just for the election or were they just lies?

Private landlords,the scourge of working class communities up and down Britain.
This is what this latest overhaul of the welfare system is aimed at,driving more and more vulnerable people into the clutches of these,in the main parasites that leech on social division and deprivation.

if they dont pay their rent then it should be classed as fraud too many people opt to have their housing benefit paid to themselves then spend it on alcohol!! think of the poor kids that have to live in households like that!

god help those people that cant or dont pay ther rent more homeless people , lets ask private landlords just how hard it is to get rent from benifit claiments . a landlord has to wait eight weeks befor they can requist direct payments of housing benifit ? will this change