Spring Issue - Camden Federation of Private Tenants

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2 The Camden Private Tenantwww.cfpt.org.ukLHA - A Postcode Lottery?Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is thenew name for Housing Benefit in theprivate rented sector. Soon the majorityof those receiving help to pay their rentwill be on the new system. Those withAssured or Assured Shorthold tenanciesare affected, but Regulated tenanciesare not.LHA is different to the old system in twokey ways:A flat rate (subject to means testing)is paid by area and household size,and publishedThe benefit is paid directly to theclaimant and not to the landlord in allbut exceptional casesIt came into effect for new and changedclaims from April 2008 and wassupposed to be simpler, fairer and moreopen and accountable.Despite successes in speeding upclaim processing times – which werethe biggest problem with the previoussystem, criticism of LHA is growing.Shelter’s research shows that the largeareas used to set LHA rates means thatclaimants and their families are likely tobe pushed into or forced to remain in,the areas with the very cheapest rents.It also found very high rates of landlordswho refused to let properties to peopleclaiming LHA.The Sun and other tabloid newspapersran a mini-campaign in Autumn 2008,“outing” claimants with large familieswho were living in homes worth around£1m and paying rents of up to £12,000a month using LHA. They chose tofocus on the fact that the families theyhighlighted were born outside the UK,but in fact the stories revealed seriousweaknesses with the one-size-fits-allapproach taken by LHA. The supply ofvery large private rented homes thatLocalHousingAllowanceThe NewHousingBenefitSchemeare suitable for a family are extremelylimited, so the rent officers who setLHA rates are working with very smallsamples and these can be skewed by theluxury/ executive rent market in someareas of London.Many landlords are unhappy with it too,nervous that their tenants surviving onthe lowest earnings may use the benefitto pay for other things. It is no surprisethen that many are exiting this part ofthe market when they can.On the other hand, we know that somelandlords in cheaper areas are takingadvantage of the openness of LHA andincreasing their rents up to it, where itis less. This not only takes money thatshould rightfully be the claimants’ but italso distorts the local rental market.The government is also keen to reinin the budget for Housing Benefit andLHA, since the annual bill has reachedmore than £15billion a year. Ministersare nervously watching the cost of LHA,knowing that the private rented sector israpidly expanding in size and numbersclaiming it are sure to increase in linewith unemployment.What does LHA mean forCamden residents?Camden is split into two under LHA,with the (very roughly) southern partbeing in the Central London area, andreceiving the highest rates of LHAanywhere in the UK, and the rest fallingin a very wide LHA area, which runsfrom Acton across to Islington. So itreally depends which side of the lineyou live on. The table below showswhich neighbourhoods fall inside whichboundary. There is a large difference inthe amount you will receive dependingon which side of this line you are on,with larger homes attracting close todouble the rate in the higher payingcentral area than the lower. See tablebelow.These boundaries may seem logicalto the civil servants drawing themup and no one would dispute thatCamden Town and Primrose Hill areamong the most expensive areas torent in the country. But those of youwith local knowledge will find some ofthese rates odd. The boundary runs upthe southern stretch of Camden Road,meaning that the Agar Estate is in thehigher paying zone, whereas the moreleafy part of Kentish Town receives thelower rent. Are private rents in SomersTown really much more than those inSouth Hampstead and Swiss Cottage?Of course this is the problem when aboundary system like this is used – youhave to draw it somewhere!By Liam Reynolds, Researcher at Shelter,writing in a personal capacity.For details of how to claimLHA/Housing Benefit or CouncilTax Benefit see page 7LHA rates Per WeekKentish Town, Gospel Oak, South Hampstead,Swiss Cottage, upper Camden RoadCamden Town, Primrose Hill, Agar Grove, Regents Park,Somers Town, EustonShared /bedsit1 Bed SelfContained2 Beds 3 Beds 4 Beds 5 Beds£115.38 £260.00 £350.00 £495.00 £690.00 £900.00£160.00 £370.00 £525.00 £775.00 £1,150.00 £1,750.00
The Camden Private Tenant www.cfpt.org.uk 3News in BriefGoodbye CORGIFrom 1st April 2009, Gas Safe Registerreplaces the CORGI gas registrationscheme as the official gas safetyorganisation.So, from 1st April, by law, only Gas Saferegistered engineers should carry outwork on gas appliances or installationsin your home.If someone other than a Gas Safeengineer does work in your home, you,your family, fellow tenants or your homecould be at risk.They can be contacted on 0800 4085500 or go to www.gassaferegister.co.ukTop Ten Most ExpensiveAreasNewly published research from TheDeposit Protection Service (DPS) showsthat Westminster is the most expensivearea in the UK to rent, measured bythe average deposit demanded bylandlords.It comes in at a whopping £1,890 (asat Dec 2008) compared to Camden’s£1,376, which makes it the 10th mostexpensive.According to the DPS “What it doesshow is that at a time when houseprices are plummeting, rental values areholding up comparatively well.”Since 6th April 2007, every landlord orletting agent who takes a deposit froma tenant has to use one of the threeschemes run by The Deposit ProtectionService (DPS), The Dispute Service ormydeposits.Private Renting isGrowing FastLove it or hate it - the private rentedsector has been expanding at anunprecedented rate since 1988. Prior to1988, a lack of freely available supplymeant that renting was a limited tenureoption and the choice of just 9.1% ofall households. By 2008, 13.9% of allEnglish homes were privately rented.In Camden this figure is between 23-25% which puts it third out of all theLondon boroughs. Only Westminsterat 30% and Kensington and Chelseaat 25% have higher levels of privaterenters.Freedom of Information?The Freedom of Information Act 2000created a general right of access toinformation across the public sector.However, despite housing associationsand other registered social landlordshaving received millions of what werecouncil homes, often at minimal cost;together with receiving tens of millionsof pounds of Housing Benefit each year,they remain wholly unaccountable inany meaningful sense to the public, arenot currently subject to the Freedom ofInformation Act or to any other form ofopen public scrutiny.We therefore petition the Prime Ministerto subject all housing associationsto the provisions of the Freedom ofInformation Act 2000.Petition submitted by StephenGradwick. To sign it go to http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/foi-housing/Service ChargeAccountant FinedLeaseholders are being advised to checkwhether the accountant who signs theservice charge certificate for their blockis actually qualified to do so. Section 28of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985requires it to be signed by a qualifiedaccountant who is also a qualifiedauditor. Joseph Bloomberg of Suite 109,Atlas Business Centre, Oxgate Lane, NW27HJ was fined £1,000 by the Institute ofChartered Accountants and ordered topay costs of £2,367 for signing servicecharge certificates when not qualified asan auditor. He signed accounts for over40 blocks of flats.Who’s Responsible?Which? (formerly the Consumers’Association) recently asked it’s memberswho rent a home the question: Whois responsible for repairs – 43% didn’tknow or got it wrong.Mark McLaren from the campaignsteam said “It’s really worrying how littletenants know of their rights”. He wenton to add “A basic consumer principle isthat people have information to knowwhat’s good and what’s not; the rentalmarket seems to fail this test.”Makey-up world ofletting agentsPatrick Collinson, Editor of the Moneysection in the Saturday Guardianrecently wrote: “I love the makeyupworld of letting agents and theirpreposterous fees. The huge finder’sfee to landlords and as much as £400to tenants for “administration” – whichamounts to a few pieces of photocopiedcontracts. A credit check fee (£150?). Aninventory fee (£80?). An insurance fee. Achecking out fee. A cleaning fee.”“They simply make up these charges asthey go along, hoping that the mainlyyoung clientele think they have nochoice but to pay up. These vulnerableyoung people, often laden with studentdebt, are hit with a load of tripe. Theyare spurious items which, if they haveany basis in fact, should fall on thetenant, not the landlord.”The good news is, it looks like thereis universal acceptance (even fromthe letting and managing agentsthemselves) that standards are poor andstaff are often unqualified. This couldlead to their mandatory regulation inthe near future.
Page 1: The CamdenPrivate TenantThe Voice o
Page 5 and 6: The Camden Private Tenant www.cfpt.
Page 7 and 8: The Camden Private Tenant www.cfpt.

Spring Issue - Camden Federation of Private Tenants

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?