An extra £49m of Government funding has been allocated to councils to help housing benefit claimants who are renting in the private sector.
Nearly £6m of it is to go to councils in London.
The funds are to help with the transition to new housing benefit rules until 2015, and are intended help Local Housing Allowance tenants and councils renegotiate their rents with landlords and find more affordable properties.
Lord Freud, minister for welfare reform, said: “The cost of paying housing benefit in the private rented sector has nearly doubled in a decade, so it’s only right that we introduce new reforms to get these spiralling costs under control.”
David Sansome, Managing Director at Sansome & George said: “The Government’s proposals for Local Housing Allowance are controversial and many landlords will not accept tenants who obtain funding under this scheme.
It can only be hoped the provision of additional funding by way of transitional support goes some way towards ensuring that tenants are, in many cases, able to negotiate new agreements with landlords.”
