Responding to a report published by Citizens Advice that revealed around 49% of those it helps with Universal Credit are in arrears on their housing payments, Chris Town, vice chair at the Residential Landlords Association commented: “(This) report demonstrates the need for more changes to be made to Universal Credit. One of the main drivers of rent arrears has been that tenants cannot routinely choose to have the housing element of Universal Credit paid directly to their landlord at the start of a claim. Many tenants prefer to have the assurance that their rent is paid and their right to do this should be introduced immediately.

“This needs to be coupled with lifting the freeze on housing benefits and the housing element of Universal Credit. Housing cost support is simply not keeping up with the realities of rents in the private sector, despite them falling in real terms over the past year.”

The RLA’s most recent research shows that of those landlords with tenants on Universal Credit, 61% experienced them going into rent arrears in the past 12 months. This is up from 38% last year and 27% in 2016.