§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are monitoring the extent to which landlords have ceased to accept tenants on housing benefit since the introduction of (a) the local reference rent, (b) payment of housing benefit in arrears and (c) the single room rent for under 25s; and, if so, what are the results of such monitoring. [HL1200]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)We are gathering information from a variety of sources to build up a national picture of the impact of the rent restriction changes. For example, we have commissioned a joint study with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) on Housing Benefit and the private rented sector. This will obtain views about the changes from tenants, landlords, local authority officers and rent officers. A draft report is due this summer. Also, DETR have commissioned a research project to explore the impact of the changes to Housing Benefit on private landlords and to assess their attitudes to Housing Benefit in general. This project is due to report in the autumn.