With rents across Scotland getting more and more extortionate, a lot of tenants are being forced to rely on Housing Benefit, or the Universal Credit Housing Element that is slowly replacing it. This includes jobseekers, pensioners, Disabled people who can’t work, and those whose income from employment is not enough to cover their basic needs. Both of these payments are calculated using the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) for the area the claimant is renting in.
But how do these rates compare to actual rent prices?
To see what this looked like for Glasgow, we headed off to Zoopla (a widely used property letting website) and recorded the 25 most recent listings for one, two and three bedroom homes respectively. We then found the equivalent amounts of housing benefit/housing element those living in them would be entitled to using the LHA Rate Calculator.
The findings were not surprising, but still felt like a massive slap in the face. Landlords are charging such high rent that it's almost impossible to find a home which could be covered by LHA.
1 bedroom:
Maximum Housing Payment: £639.8pcm
Average rent: £927pcm
Difference: £287.2pcm
Out of 25 homes, only two did not exceed the maximum amount that can be awarded.
2 bedrooms:
Maximum Housing Payment: £782.48pcm
Average rent: £1206pcm
Difference: £423.92pcm
Out of 25 homes, just one could be fully covered.
3 bedrooms:
Maximum Housing Payment: £892.92pcm
Average rent: £1743.2pcm
(that’s just £92 under the maximum payment a family affected by the benefit cap can get in total from Universal Credit each month)
Difference: £850.28pcm!!
Out of the 25 homes, not even one was close to being covered. How many children need to grow up under housing insecurity until something is done?
This is even more outrageous since, according to a Glasgow Times investigation, families could be waiting more than 100 years to get a social rented home with three or more bedrooms.
When you are scared of losing your home, your landlord holds an immense amount of power over you. Through endless rent increases and threats of eviction, they claim entitlement over any money you may have: your grocery budget, your heating bill, your Disability expenses. And with no rent controls they are given free reign to take it all: not only at the expense of local services, but at the expense of your survival too.
To help mitigate the impact of benefit cuts like the bedroom tax and benefit cap, the Scottish Government allocated £90.5 million to local authorities for Discretionary Housing Payments for 2025-2026. Each council decides who gets awarded this payment and for how long. It is unclear in the published statistics how much of these funds are going into the pockets of private landlords who, with rent caps now being lifted, continue to increase rents.
This information leaves us with more questions than answers about the future of affordable housing in our city. If landlords can charge however much they like, where does it stop?
We already know that the UK government is expected to subsidise private landlords by over £70 billion in total from 2024 to 2029. There is no question that those of us who can’t afford our rent deserve financial support, but giving landlords more money is doing nothing to tackle the housing emergency in the long term. Those who see housing as an investment are not going to suddenly hold themselves accountable for the suffering they’re causing.
If we want things to stop getting worse, we’re going to need effective rent controls that are not watered down to appease landlords and investors.
Click here to endorse our demands for the long overdue rent controls that tenants across Scotland desperately need!
gov.scot
gov.uk
zoopla.co.uk
https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/money_help/discretionary_housing_payment
https://neweconomics.org/2024/01/government-subsidising-private-landlords-70bn-over-next-five-years
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/25109637.families-stuck-housing-list-100-years/
