News from Westminster Labour

Few options for Westminster residents caught by Housing Benefit caps

Private landlords renting out former Westminster Council flats are the only landlords accepting lower rents from tenants affected by Housing Benefit caps but are still charging around 4 times the rent charged by the Council, according to figures supplied to Labour Councillors by Westminster Council.

Over the past 30 years Westminster Conservatives have sold approximately 50% of their 22,000 Council flats and houses and many are now being rented out on the private market at up 5 or 6 times the rent charged by the Council.

The figures show that;

* Of the 4,200 households in Westminster currently affected by the Housing Benefit cap, the Council has so far been able to negotiate lower rents on only 11 private flats, all of which are former Council flats.

* The new rents negotiated by the Council, of between £420 and £450 a week, is roughly 4 times the average weekly rent for a Council flat in Westminster.

* Just 24 households who have been forced to move were re-housed in the private sector in January and February 2012, with only 6 being rehoused in Westminster. Of the 24 households rehoused, according to the Council, “5 were outside London and the remaining 9 were into different London boroughs (including Redbridge, Lewisham, Lambeth, Hackney, Barking) …and 4 in Brent”

In a note to Councillors, Council Chief Executive Mike More says;

“Identifying private rented sector accommodation for households affected by the caps

Work with households affected by the caps takes two forms; the first is where a household approaches Housing Options or Benefit Services seeking advice and assistance about the caps and their housing options; this advice may take the form of confirming the details of the caps and when they will be introduced to the claim, to advice about the availability of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) and support to apply for this and assistance to negotiate with the landlord about rent levels. The negotiation process is proving complex and requires an approach specific to the household circumstances and each has to be supported by confirmation in the form of a revised tenancy agreement. Where we have had success in negotiating rents down is with portfolio landlords who have several properties and a reduced rent supported by DHP has been agreed and examples of reductions that have been agreed are in the table below:

Address	Number of bedrooms	Current rent	Capped rent	Date Transitional Protection ends	New rent
Probyn House, Page Street	2	£490.00	£340.00	16/01/2012	£420.00
Medway House, Church Street	4	£700.00	£340.00	05/03/2012	£450.00
Bourne Terrace	3	£700.00	£340.00	19/03/2012	£440.00
Tadema House, Church Street	3	£495.00	£290.00	09/07/2012	£440.00
Liliestone House, Church Street	3	£495.00	£290.00	23/07/2012	£440.00
Atherstone Court, Warwick Estate	3	£750.00	£340.00	03/09/2012	£440.00
Doneraille House, Ebury Bridge	2	£500.00	£340.00	26/11/2012	£420.00
Blomfield Villas	3	£795.00	£340.00	22/10/2012	£440.00
John Aird Court, Little Venice	2	£495.00	£290.00	17/09/2012	£420.00
Lowther House, Churchill Gardens	2	£500.35	£290.00	17/09/2012	£420.00

The second area is that where households do move, then we support moves into the private rented sector as a means of preventing homelessness and as these will involve new Housing Benefit claims they would be within the cap levels. There were 11 homeless prevention lets into the private rented sector in January and 13 in February; off these 6 were in Westminster, 4 in Brent, 5 were outside London and the remaining 9 were into different London boroughs (including Redbridge, Lewisham, Lambeth, Hackney, Barking)”

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said; “These figures show that there are very few options in Westminster for residents caught by the Housing Benefit caps. The only accommodation available are former Council flats – but at four times the rent that the Council charges its own tenants! These figures show what folly it was to sell off over 10,000 Council homes without replacing them with new homes for rent. The result is not enough homes for those in need, families being shipped out of London and sky-high rents.”

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