Housing Benefit Row and London Mayor Boris Johnson

I see the London Mayor has now waded into the debate about Housing Benefit rate changes. This is all terribly interesting.

Readers of this blog will know that back in July we were the first to highlight how the changes to Housing Benefit (Local Housing Allowance) rates could actually result in hugely pushed up rents and house prices in some areas whilst reducing it in others. Here is the link to that blog post: http://bit.ly/cFWg7D

It’s nice to see that the mainstream media has finally cottoned on to the story.

Also, having seen the Housing Minister Grant Shapps’s rather solid performance on “Newsnight” last night, (why did Shapps’s opponents not put up a more suitable case study from say Westminster borough to illustrate their point?), we rather think he may have read our open letter to him (also posted in our blog a few weeks back) which suggested there was a lot more that local authorities could do to improve the way they engage with the private rented sector. We hope that he in enjoying our book too!

The same letter also suggested that whilst the London Councils group was right to sound the alarm, their forecast that there could be 82,000 homeless people as a result of the Housing Benefit cuts was a bit questionable. The link to that blog post is here: http://bit.ly/cCE7sv

This story is going to run and run.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of Private Rented Sector and Landlord Information.

I’m David Lawrenson, a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and author of “Successful Property Letting” – the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years. 25,000 copies sold.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to a range of organisations including banks, building societies, local authorities, social housing providers, institutional investors in build to let and insurers – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies, marketing and services.

For example, I help banks improve their buy to let mortgage lending practices and I help housing associations / local authorities find private landlords (private rented access schemes, local letting agency models etc.)

I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the media.

Services for Private Landlords

We also find a limited amount of time to help landlords and property investors by coaching them in how to make money in the private rented sector using ways that work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor. We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased Buy to Let Advice on a coaching basis or through our (very occasional) group seminars.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

TO GO TO THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

You can use the tags and categories at the bottom of each post and over to the right to read blog posts on related posts.

Just click on the categories and use the pull down menu over to the top right to find all the posts on a specific topic. (If you should want to find relevant posts from before 30 April 2010 (on our old system) you can also click on LettingFocus’s Old Blog  – Categories, then search from the list for a topic that interests you.)

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: http://www.lettingfocus.com

For general info on our CONSULTING SERVICES and also to find a small sample of links to articles where our comments have been featured in the National Press please click here: Consultancy and Seminars

For ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY FOR PRIVATE LANDLORDS click here: Property Advice

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors: Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – from both organisations and private landlords click here: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here to Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else at that Amazon sell. (If you are from an organisation and would like to bulk buy at least 50 books please ask us for special rates (which are lower than Amazon)).

To JOIN our Free NEWSLETTER containing regular news for landlords and details of our Events simply send an email to [email protected] – Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers but please put us on your “white list” to ensure you receive our emails.

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?

IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. Ask for details.

This blog is updated once a week, usually on a Monday or Tuesday (or more frequently when “hot” news items come up.

For my random thoughts on property and various other things that typically make me grumpy, please see our TWITTER PAGE: Twitter

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2010.