Benefit claimants are increasingly missing out in the search for a rental home as landlords choose tenants with more financial stability, the BBC reports.
A survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed the results and named the shortage of property in the private rented sector (PRS) as the main reason.
According to the study, landlords were also put off by the benefits cap which can result in lower benefit payments to tenants. This led some experts at RICS to believe that the situation would be improved if the government was to start a scheme that guaranteed payments to landlords were made.
Ever since 2008, housing benefit in the private sector has been made to the tenant and not the landlord.
Sean Tompkins, chief executive of Rics, expressed his concerns about the situation:
“Worryingly our figures show that as a result of a combination of economic pressures, more and more vulnerable tenants are being pushed out of the private rented sector.
However, if government were to put in place additional support measures through the introduction of help to rent schemes, the door to the rental market may once again be opened for Britain’s most vulnerable.”
As a response, the government assured that all intentions to have a PRS that catered for both, the needs of the tenant as well as the landlord.
According to the BBC, a government spokesperson said:
“We’re also banning letting fees, driving the worst landlords out of the market, and promoting longer tenancies on new rental properties.”
