Landlord’s lament

When iain Duncan Smith introduced Universal Credit, supposedly to help people on benefits to manage their own cash (which is really taxpayers’ money), did he have any idea about the stress that would be caused to responsible landlords like me?

When the rent went straight into my tenants’ pocket, they stopped paying me. i went to court to evict them, incurring solicitor fees of £620 and court fees of £425.

it took six months before the tenants finally left and it cost me thousands to repair my property because of deliberate damage. yet the Government wonders why there is a shortage of decent private properties to rent for people on benefits.

ROGER SWAYNE, Minehead, Somerset.