Landlords set to lose powers to collect rent from benefit payments

The Work and Pensions Secretary is reviewing a controversial system that automatically approves landlord requests to deduct tenants’ benefits for rent arrears and ongoing rent.

Concerns have arisen that this system, intended to help people avoid issues with their landlords such as eviction, may actually be pushing the poorest into debt.

This follows the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) decision not to appeal a court judgment that found one claimant’s landlord payments were unfair.

Currently, computer software automatically approves landlord requests to deduct up to a fifth of a person’s monthly Universal Credit payments for outstanding rent without consulting the tenant or the DWP.

The department will now reassess this process to find fairer ways of ensuring landlords receive the rent they are owed while protecting benefit claimants from falling into debt.

This review is part of broader efforts by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall to improve the welfare system.

Kendall stated, “I am determined to correct the longstanding issues in the benefits system. The automatic approval of landlords’ requests to deduct tenants’ benefits is one such issue.”

This decision follows a high-profile legal challenge in January, won by Nathan Roberts, who had his benefits deducted and automatically paid to his landlord for alleged rent arrears and ongoing rent payments—despite a dispute about property repairs.