Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward proposals to ensure that housing benefit is paid direct only to landlords, or letting agents, who are Propertymark Protected.

How benefit is paid to claimants is an important consideration in encouraging people to manage their own budget, particularly where it may help claimants moving in to work. That is why Housing Benefit payments in the private rented sector are usually made to the claimant rather than the Landlord. There are existing safeguards in place to help those people who cannot handle their own rent and benefit, including direct payment to Landlords in certain circumstances. There are no plans to change the operation of the Housing Benefit scheme.

The government wants to support good Landlords who provide well maintained homes and avoid further regulation on them which increases costs and red tape, pushes up rents and reduces choice. A range of measures were introduced through the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to crack down on rogue Landlords and we plan to implement these measures in 2017.