Lewes Forum thread

DHS: anyone who gets job seekers, income support or ESA is entitled to have their mortgage interest paid after they have been claiming for 13 weeks. The only caveat is that this will not cover mortgages taken out for purposes other than the original purpose, eg to release equity or finance the building of extensions.
Me-Mo: As well as owning a home, you will be able to sell it and move elsewhere if you wish. This mobility is rarely available to social housing tenants unless they are prepared to sacrifice their secure tenancy and go back to private renting.
ASL: leasing your property to the council means that the council pay the rent direct to you whether the property is occupied or not. The council is effectively your tenant, not the person living there. And HB can be paid direct to private landlords if you make it a condition of the tenancy, or if the tenant requests it because they cannot manage their own money effectively.
JRS: I am sorry your friend suffered at the hands of bad tenants, but most landlords take out insurance against that sort of thing.
While there are undoubtedly bad tenants, landlords can insure against the losses they cause and evict them. Good tenants have no such protection against bad landlords, or whom there are plenty.
Only this afternoon I spoke to a tenant with a young baby. The baby suffers from frequent chest infections and breathing difficulties. Environmental health had just confirmed that the mould in the flat is aspergillus, a fungus that thrives in damp conditions and affects the lungs. It has no heating and 2 of the windows are impossible to shut. The landlord has repeatedly failed to do anything about it and the EHO wants to take action against the landlord. The tenant is scared to give permission for them do that for fear of being served notice and becoming homeless. While the council would have a statutory duty to house the family, they would, at least initially, be placed in a very grim B&B a long way from where they live. What a choice, eh?