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Rent rise victims stage fight back
7/ 5/2008
TENANTS of private landlords upset at official changes that have left them worse off are fighting back.
Glossop Tenants and Landlords Forum has been set up to voice the concerns of tenants who face cuts of up to £30 a month in housing benefit.
It wants a decision to group Glossop with Greater Manchester for rent evaluations reversed.
The Rents Service is reviewing its decision. Because rents in Tameside, Oldham and Rochdale are lower than in Glossop, this has led to benefit cuts for 140–150 Glossop tenants.
Councillor Jacqui Wilkinson, who met rent service officials recently, said: "What is the ‘community of interest’ of Glossop with Oldham and Rochdale? Glossop people don’t go banking in Rochdale. The service admitted that all they did was ring up a few estate agents. They admitted they got it wrong, which is why they are looking to do things properly over the next three months to make sure they get things right."
Glossop MP Tom Levitt said he met Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell – MP for neighbouring Stalybridge and Hyde – on 3 April and "tore a strip" off rent service officials for not following cabinet office rules in arriving at their decision.
"The consultation they made was wholly inadequate and the outcome wholly irrational."
He added that should the decision be reversed, tenants should be reimbursed for any benefit cuts they have suffered.
Councilllor Roger Wilkinson said: "Tenants in Barrow and South Lakeland asked for a review and got the rents service to change its mind. So it shows they recognise that they did not get it quite right there and that they are listening."
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