How cuts will bite

Published: 29 July, 2010

• CAMDEN Federation of Private Tenants shares Frank Dobson’s concerns about the impact housing benefit cuts will have on the borough’s private tenants (Fiscal cleansing will force families out, July 22).

This “cleansing” will not only affect families who rent privately, but anybody who is in receipt of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and is paying a high rent in this expensive borough, including young people, adults and older people; many of whom have lived here for most of their lives.

Also, if this policy is about bringing rents down, as the government claims, won’t the movement of large numbers of people out of Camden and into other areas, suddenly increase the demand for rental properties in these and subsequently put the rents up?

We are also sceptical that people on short-term tenancies will suddenly start negotiating a lower rent with their landlords, and for those brave enough to try, we suspect the answer will be, if you don’t like it you can go somewhere else, as is often the case in the private rented sector.

At a meeting we recently attended to discuss the private rented sector, we were told that the government thinks “people no longer have an inalienable right to live in expensive areas unless they can afford it.”

Thankfully, Camden Council takes a different view, and understands very clearly that this borough and London as a city, has grown and developed over centuries on the basis of mixed communities.

So if you are a private tenant in receipt of LHA and are worried that you will not be able to pay your rent when the weekly rates are cut, please get in touch with either by email at admin@cfpt.org.uk or by calling 020 7383 0151.

ROBERT TAYLOR
Organiser
Camden Federation of Private Tenants
11-17 The Marr
Camden Street, NW1