Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Stop being silly 0.25% increase is a life threatner to most of these who have over borrowed in fact been encouraged to over borrow by this government.

It wont just be the housing market that is threatned but the whole economy as Carney states above.

And that 0.25% is just the beginning.

Another IDS balls up......

Bedroom Tax DWP report – immediate comments eg arrears up £140m

Uncategorized July 15, 2014 1 Comment

The DWP has finally released the first interim report into the bedroom tax today – 163 pages of mostly waffle on first reading but some really interesting issues emerge.

P17 for example has this:

Paying the shortfall
Landlords reported that, five months into the RSRS, 41 per cent of tenants have paid the full RSRS shortfall, 39 per cent have paid some and 20 per cent have paid none.

Let’s do a quick extrapolation and a more up to date one than this report. The bedroom tax has 471,000 affected households at an average of £14.40 per week cut in their Housing Benefit at February 2014 and this is a falling number from the 542,000 first reported. This means the total bedroom tax cut for the first year will be between £360m – £390m and here I use the lower £360m cut.

If 20% of tenants have not paid that means landlord arrears have increased by £72m
If the 39% who have paid some average 50% of the bedroom tax being paid than that is a further £70m of arrears landlords now have.
Combine the two and we see the bedroom tax has increased social landlord arrears by £140m

That is a good ballpark estimate although there are so many variables which can adjust that by as much as 20% either way giving a range of £112m – £168m. The decreasing number of affected households could reduce it although I use the 471,000 number of households which the lowest figure yet and is 190,000 or 28% fewer households than the DWP expected in their estimate the bedroom tax would affect 660,000 households. The longer the bedroom tax goes on the more tenants that wont be able to pay could increase landlord losses which will of course be added to by their possession costs which can average about £7,000 per property.

The DWP interim report is as vague and woolly as you would expect on this point (and every other point) and frankly the report is 163 pages of turgid indecisive nonsense and anyone expecting some revelatory insights will be seriously disappointed.

Arrears
Total arrears (for all reasons) held by social landlords increased by 16 per cent between April and October, although it must be emphasised that the cause of this is uncertain and we cannot directly attribute this increase to the RSRS. Landlords state that they will eventually evict RSRS-affected non-payers, though at the time of the research most were currently only in the early stages of this process. Many landlords expressed concern that
collecting rent from people who can’t afford to pay whilst in their current circumstances is damaging relations between landlords and tenants.

The above also on page 17 explains exactly what I mean. Arrears have risen but this is not due to bedroom tax! No we can’t possibly say that! So what is it down to then? Do you offer any explanation for this? Er…no! Ah I see so this is a whitewash then? You may say that I couldn’t possibly comment…blah blah blah!

Then we have the one genuine insight that the bedroom tax is damaging the landlord:tenant relationship. Yet this (a) comes from landlords, (b) is not commented upon at all and (c) is massively understated. Tenants no longer trust their social landlord and this is a huge matter with future planned reforms such as direct payment of HB to the tenant scaring the life out of social landlords and rightly so.

This report is as much of a charade and sham as the bedroom tax decision making process an the next report is due AFTER the next election. How convenient eh reader?

I do leave you with some mild amusement and look at page 13 for a real FREUDIAN slip and I wonder how long it will be before social landlords state there will be no effin funders?



There is no F in funders lending to social landlords eh DWP?


If I haven’t dissuaded you from reading this whitewash of a report you can enjoy it here though please make sure no sharp implements are near and you are sitting comfortably. And just to be on the safe side make sure the smelling salts are handy so when you fall over in shock at just how inept, wish-washy, incompetent and frankly offensive this report is… You have been warned!

Good to see IDS keeping his job as he is doing a great job.

A great job of making sure labour win the next GE.

In fact the truth is hes told the PM for the second time hes not leaving.

Now either

1. Camoron is weak

2. IDS as something on Camoron

tend to think its the latter. ......or a combination of both.

'Rate hike'

Food and non-alcoholic drinks prices rose overall, with vegetables, bread and chocolate among the foodstuffs going up in price.

Economists said that the price rises may strengthen the case for a rise in UK interest rates, which have been held at a record low of 0.5%, especially against a backdrop of rising house prices and falling unemployment.

"The news will further fuel expectations that the Bank of England will start raising interest rates sooner rather than later, with November looking the most likely month for the first hike," said Chris Williamson. chief economist at research firm Markit.

He added that fine June weather may have led retailers to hold back on summer clothing discounts.

'Painful'

Jeremy Cook, chief economist at currency company World First, said the rise in prices was "a big surprise".

"Inflation is now rising at its fastest rate since January, with clothing, food and transport contributing well," he said.

However, for people who have been living with below inflation wage increases, "the situation just got a little more painful," he said.

Wage rises began to match inflation in April, after six years of falling real wages.

But the latest figures show wages rising at less than 1%, well below the 1.9% rise in prices recorded in June, meaning household incomes are being squeezed again.

More arrears yes more arrears....what a mess this government is in.........

15 July 2014 Last updated at 13:07

More than half of tenants in arrears after benefit cut



More than half of tenants affected by a housing benefit cut in England were in arrears five months after the changes were introduced, a report says.

Some 59% of tenants - more than 300,000 - were in arrears, analysis for the Department for Work and Pensions found.

All going well and Conservative victory guaranteed!

smoking
i wonder what % of households now have a smoker in residence
of those households, i then wonder how many packets of fags are consumed each week - i think they're about £8.00 a pack now

Ohhhhhhh forget fags the poor have to have a little luxury, as you well know thay ALL have SKY TV and are on the most expensive package.

Lets face it Cyners when you are sat at home without a job doing nothing but consuming from the food banks what else can you do other than watch TV and knock back a crate of Gold label.

it was merely a question that did not require an aggressive answer, even if it was likely to draw one, and of course did so :-)

=============

reverting to the question of smoking

it is certainly noticeable that, throughout europe, smoking is much more prevalent than in uk especially among the younger generation(s)
i have little doubt that this is due to the much lower cost, so i'm delighted that there is such a thumping tax on tobacco

Hays,

What are you on?

Whatever it is give a little of it to Manuel he needs a little bit of an uplift!


Mind, the latter doesn't read this thread, or if he does can't remember it.

Another question.

How many elderly gentlemen and Manuels have cirrhosis of the liver by imbibing too many bottles of burgundy and cognac accompanying butter laden meals?

They should be ashamed of themselves.

not me that's for sure
btw, i'm sure high saturated fat content in your meal will not encourage cirrhosis, though it may do plenty of damage elsewhere

merely as an aside, i doubt if i consume 1/2 bottle spirits in a whole year, though i do occasionally use some in cooking

By the way cyners 72% of these people who are in arrears with rent etc etc, are working people with either one or both adults in full time work.

Id be a bit worried though If I was you, this couple you rent out to will be soon paid housing benefit direct, a moonlight flit could be on the cards.

no they won't ..... i know the parents, which is why i even allowed them in in the first place ..... that said, if they vacated, i think i'ld just sell the property

something that may be of interest to you ...... house prices in central london are now so high that the yield is probably only 2.5 - 3.0%, and that assumes no downtime

Good to see Liam Fox doesn't want to be associated with the new cabinet!

GF,

It is OK George's economic policies will bail us out.

It looks like the chickens are coming home to roost just before the next Election with Cameron in fortress tory land.

============

Fred looks to me like the Tory party is in a state of total confusion.

Back benches have already said on the sackings camoron cant think hes got away with it.

if tenants are behind with rents then take them from their benefits or wages
and no messing about .