BREAKING: Housing benefit fraud and overpayments now ‘rife’ says National Audit Office

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Spiralling fraud and overpayments in the benefits system now stand at the highest rate ever recorded, admits the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), as it identifies housing payments as an area of concern.

Housing benefit fraud is particularly rife after the pandemic resulted in more relaxed checks to ensure a record number of new Universal Credit claims – up from three million to six million – could be processed and paid.

To help people with their housing costs, DWP administered some £30 billion of housing support through Housing Benefit and Universal Credit during 2020-21, with additional financial assistance paid through the Local Housing Allowance.

Excluding State Pension, DWP estimates it overpaid £8.3 billion of the £111.4 billion that it spent on benefits during 2020-21, an increase of £3.8 billion on the previous year.

Nearly all of the increase in fraud and error was on Universal Credit; DWP estimates it overpaid £5.5 billion of UC (14.5%) and underpaid £540 million (1.4%).

The DWP has identified four key fraud and error risks; it wants to improve controls over incorrectly reported self-employment earnings, savings, living arrangements and housing costs.

NAO boss Gareth Davies (pictured) says the issue has a real impact on public funds and on those who face deductions to their income due to overpayments.

He adds: “I recognise that the pandemic and the resulting surge in the number of claimants has increased DWP’s exposure to fraud and error.

“It must now review all cases that could have been subject to fraud during this time, whilst continuing to progress our past recommendations on how to reduce fraud and error.”

Read more about DWP payment problems.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – BREAKING: Housing benefit fraud and overpayments now ‘rife’ says National Audit Office | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: BREAKING: Housing benefit fraud and overpayments now ‘rife’ says National Audit Office

LATEST: By next year half of all landlords will be women

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Female landlords are closing the gap on their male counterparts as they turn their backs on stocks and shares to invest in property.

Women now make up 48% of the 2.6 million buy-to-let investors in the UK, up from 47% in the previous year, according to Ludlowthompson, which reports that the number of residential property landlords who are women increased by 2% to 1.25 million for the most recent tax year, up from 1.2 million the previous year.

The estate agency says buy-to-let investments have traditionally been more popular among female investors than other assets; women account for 44% of investors in stocks and shares ISAs and represent just 15% of Bitcoin traders.

Women now receive 44% of all income from buy-to-let investments (£16.1 billion of a total of £36.4 billion in income), up 27% since 2014/15 from £12.7 billion. In the same period, the total income for male landlords has grown 15%, suggesting that women have been adding to their portfolios of buy-to-let properties much faster than men.

Ludlowthompson chairman Stephen Ludlow (pictured) says the buy-to-let market has built a reputation of delivering long-term, stable returns to investors looking for income and long-term growth.

“With the gender gap in buy-to-let ownership narrowing year-on-year, it might not be long until we see a 50:50 gender split amongst buy-to-let investors,” adds Ludlow.

“This is a significant step considering the much wider ownership gap in other asset classes, such as equities and cryptocurrencies.

“Buy-to-let property is a sensible way to diversify an investment portfolio and you are competing against fewer professional investors than in stock market investments.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – LATEST: By next year half of all landlords will be women | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: LATEST: By next year half of all landlords will be women

Government report lifts lid on ‘lazy landlords’

admin    Uncategorized     agents

Lazy landlords are causing thousands of English renters to feel dissatisfied with the state of their homes.

Figures from the latest English Housing Survey show 17% of private tenants aren’t happy – equating to some 748,000 families who could be living with damp, faulty electrics or dodgy plumbing.

One in four renters report being dissatisfied with the repairs and maintenance carried out by their landlord; the three most common reasons cited were that the landlord didn’t bother doing repairs or maintenance (35%), the landlord was slow to get things done (25%) and that their landlord did the bare minimum (15%).

The figures also show that 23% of privately rented homes (and 12% of socially rented homes) fail to meet minimum standards, 13% of privately rented homes contain a hazard and 11% don’t have a working smoke alarm.

Renting campaigner Ajay Jagota (pictured), founder of specialist claims management firm Veriwise, says the figures really bring home how many people in England are living in danger and squalor as a result of landlords not taking their responsibilities seriously.

He adds: “In every corner of the country there are renters wondering why their landlord won’t get rid of rats or wondering how long a landlord has to fix an electrical problem or can legally leave them without heating – all knowing that any complaints will probably get them nowhere.”

The English Housing Survey collects information about people’s housing circumstances and the condition of housing in England.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Government report lifts lid on ‘lazy landlords’ | LandlordZONE.

View Full Article: Government report lifts lid on ‘lazy landlords’