Landlords kicking out Universal Credit claimants

In the past 12 months, 29% of landlords have evicted tenants who were in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.

Universal Credit has been criticised for delayed payments and causing recipients to end up in debt.

Over a third of private landlords with tenants receiving Universal Credit have said that they are now in rent arrears, according-to-a-report-by-the-Residential-Landlords-Association-(RLA)-(PDF-file size:-1,077kb).

The average amount owed in rent arrears by Universal Credit tenants to private sector landlords is now £1,150.

As a consequence of this, many of those who are already struggling are being pushed over the edge and into homelessness.

The ending of private sector tenancies has overtaken all other causes to become the biggest single driver of homelessness, according-to-the-National-Audit-Office-(NAO)-(PDF-file-size:-905.48kb).

Since 2010, the cost of private rented accommodation has increased three times faster than earnings across England, and eight times faster in London.

This has resulted in an increase of 134% in rough sleeping since 2010.