Tuesday 13 May 2014

"Revealed: How landlords receive more in benefits than someone with a salary of £85,000"

From The Daily Mail:

Britain's top 'private sector' landlords were paid on average more in handouts than someone earning over £85,000, it can be revealed.

Average Housing Benefit payments to some landlords were worth on average more than £1,100-a-week before a cap on payments was introduced.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said he was determined to end the 'ludicrous situation' where Housing benefit recipients - many of whom acquired ex-council houses at undervalue under the Right To Buy scheme - had a higher income than the average wage of someone who goes out to work and pays the taxes to subsidise them.

The Housing Benefit cap is now set at around £200-a-week, or £10,000-a-year - chosen by ministers because it is close to the average pre-tax wage of someone in a Minimum Wage job.

More than 42,000 landlords have seen their Housing Benefit payments cut since the cap came into force in April last year. Until now the Department for Work and Pensions had only said that 96 landlords had been receiving more than £900-a-week.

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