The Board would like to extend their continued gratitude to Mr Brandon Taylor who represents the ELA at the DWP forum. Brandon has been attending these quarterly meetings for some time now and provides feedback to the board. Brandon give us an insight into the forum below, detailing its aims and how he has been representing the ELA.

The Private Rented Sector Forum was set up by the Universal Credit Engagement Team to liaise with the private rented sector over the continuing roll out of Universal Credit.
The group consists of representatives from the Universal Credit Engagement Team and representatives from both Property Agents and Landlord Associations. The aim is not to discuss individual cases but to look at the roll out of Universal Credit as a whole and how it is affecting private landlords, agents and their tenants. The Forum takes place once a quarter remotely by TEAMS meetings.
Brandon was invited to join the forum on the ELA’s behalf as he was already known by the DWP as having sat on various working groups in the past as a landlord representative. He is a past Chairman of the ELA and has been a professional landlord for the past 40 years and has extensive knowledge of the sector and dealings with benefit tenants. He currently has approximately 200 tenants who either fully or partially claim Universal Credit, so he’s able to identify the cracks in the system.
As the Eastern Landlords representative, Brandon has recently raised the following issues at the forum:
Issues with the Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA) application process in respect of confirmation that an application has been received and the information they can provide us once processed
Criteria for APA payments to be granted
The reasons why many landlords and agents will not accept benefit tenants
Local Housing Allowance rates which do not reflect the current rental market
Renters' Rights Bill and how this will impact on future Universal Credit claims

The Forum is unable to change policy but is set up to feed back its findings to the policy makers who advise the Government of the day. Unfortunately, changes do not always come quickly, if indeed at all.
If you would like to ‘have your say’, your comments would be welcome into the ELA and we can forward these as appropriate. Please email info@easternlandlords.org.uk
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