Of the 462,899 households living in private rented accommodation in the North West the rent to landlords in 210,226 or 45.4% of them is paid in part or in full by taxpayers. In 2013/14 private landlords in the North West were paid a total of £1,024m in housing benefit. See table below for the full data by council in the region.
The top winners in the North West are: Private landlord Simon Hackett was paid £486,122 of taxpayer’s money direct as housing benefits by Blackpool Council in 2013/14. Chaudrey Mohammed Yaseen was paid £454,635 by Blackburn with Darwen council, Bryan Long, was paid £417,615 by Lancaster council and Mr J & Mrs L Heap was paid £296,823 by Blackpool council in 2013/14. The details for the top 20 private landlords in the North West in receipt housing benefit payments direct are set out below.
Top 20 private landlords in the North West ranked by amount of housing benefit they were paid direct by councils in 2013/14:
North West |
Landlord |
Amount |
Blackpool |
Hackett, Simon |
£486,122 |
Blackburn with Darwen |
Yaseen, Chaudrey Mohammed |
£454,635 |
Lancaster |
Long, Bryan |
£417,615 |
Blackpool |
Heap, Mr J & Mrs L |
£296,823 |
Blackpool |
Sodhi, Mr & Mrs |
£250,374 |
Sefton |
Tinsley, E |
£247,649 |
Barrow-in-Furness |
Mellor, Mrs Janice |
£230,416 |
Preston |
Towey, A F |
£179,515 |
Sefton |
Day, J A |
£164,238 |
Sefton |
Purcell, J |
£149,793 |
Sefton |
Morrissey, J Jnr |
£146,145 |
Sefton |
Ball, D S |
£138,332 |
Sefton |
Kenlay, N D |
£137,852 |
Tameside |
Gleave, Mr S |
£137,769 |
Tameside |
Lee, Mrs |
£134,710 |
Blackburn with Darwen |
Giovannini, Joseph |
£132,608 |
Blackburn with Darwen |
Ali, Iqbal |
£131,091 |
Sefton |
Patrick Grimes |
£125,207 |
Sefton |
Hardaker, T |
£121,919 |
Fylde |
Hirsh, Oliver |
£120,753 |
The top 20 private landlords in each of the councils in the North West in receipt housing benefit payments direct are set out as in pdf set out at the foot of the national press release on the GMB website www.gmb.org.uk. See notes to editors for how GMB conducted the FOI requests to councils to find out this information and for sources and definitions.
In Great Britain there are approx. 4.2 million households living in private rented accommodation. The rent to landlords in 1.59 million or 38% of them is paid in part or in full by taxpayers. Private landlords were paid an annual total of £9.2 billion in housing benefit in 2013/14. The top 20 private landlords in Britain in receipt housing benefit payments direct are set in the national press release on the GMB website www.gmb.org.uk.
The Tory Party has made an election pledge to open up housing association property to buy the let landlords. Since council housing was opened up to “right to buy” in the 1980s over 40% of council housing has ended up with buy to let landlords.
In Wandsworth for example of 15,874 dwellings in council blocks where tenants acquired the leasehold under “right to buy” legislation some 6,180 dwellings are now owned by private landlords who rent them to private tenants. That is nearly 40% of the total sold by the council. There are 977 private landlords who own more than one of these 6,180 dwellings. One private landlord owns 93, another owns 32, another 15 landlords each own 10 or more and a further 83 landlords each own between 5 and 9 of these dwellings.
Table: Private rented housing and number and % getting housing benefit and amount to private landlords by council in the region:
All Private Rented Households |
Housing Benefit recipients in the Private Rented Sector |
% |
Estimated amount of Housing Benefit paid to Private Landlords - 2013/14 (£m) |
||
Great Britain |
4,195,070 |
1,587,669 |
37.8 |
9,296 |
|
England and Wales |
3,900,178 |
1,492,853 |
38.3 |
8,840 |
|
North West |
462,899 |
210,226 |
45.4 |
1,024 |
|
Rank |
|||||
1 |
Liverpool |
48,290 |
20,297 |
42.0 |
108.96 |
2 |
Manchester |
58,170 |
17,584 |
30.2 |
87.38 |
3 |
Blackpool UA |
16,770 |
14,554 |
86.8 |
68.80 |
4 |
Wirral |
22,275 |
14,269 |
64.1 |
67.39 |
5 |
Sefton |
15,804 |
10,255 |
64.9 |
52.16 |
6 |
Wigan |
15,875 |
7,774 |
49.0 |
35.38 |
7 |
Salford |
19,420 |
7,066 |
36.4 |
35.00 |
8 |
Bolton |
15,930 |
7,263 |
45.6 |
33.38 |
9 |
Cheshire West and Chester |
17,734 |
6,208 |
35.0 |
32.81 |
10 |
Stockport |
13,852 |
5,689 |
41.1 |
32.40 |
11 |
Tameside |
12,573 |
6,178 |
49.1 |
30.05 |
12 |
Rochdale |
11,556 |
6,302 |
54.5 |
29.80 |
13 |
Cheshire East UA |
19,938 |
6,110 |
30.6 |
29.77 |
14 |
Oldham |
10,944 |
6,210 |
56.7 |
29.29 |
15 |
Halton UA |
5,212 |
3,067 |
58.8 |
26.78 |
16 |
Lancaster |
10,929 |
5,275 |
48.3 |
24.38 |
17 |
Knowsley |
5,980 |
4,603 |
77.0 |
23.72 |
18 |
Blackburn with Darwen UA |
8,993 |
4,709 |
52.4 |
22.60 |
19 |
Bury |
10,774 |
4,803 |
44.6 |
22.09 |
20 |
Wyre |
6,397 |
4,353 |
68.0 |
19.26 |
21 |
Warrington UA |
9,549 |
3,607 |
37.8 |
18.83 |
22 |
St. Helens |
7,736 |
4,146 |
53.6 |
18.76 |
23 |
Burnley |
7,267 |
4,721 |
65.0 |
18.75 |
24 |
Trafford |
12,001 |
3,506 |
29.2 |
18.69 |
25 |
Preston |
10,365 |
3,713 |
35.8 |
16.77 |
26 |
Hyndburn |
6,235 |
3,649 |
58.5 |
15.40 |
27 |
Pendle |
6,760 |
3,631 |
53.7 |
14.89 |
28 |
Fylde |
6,066 |
2,887 |
47.6 |
12.36 |
29 |
Barrow-in-Furness |
4,442 |
2,660 |
59.9 |
10.88 |
30 |
West Lancashire |
4,744 |
2,095 |
44.2 |
9.84 |
31 |
Carlisle |
6,914 |
2,136 |
30.9 |
8.82 |
32 |
Chorley |
4,587 |
1,898 |
41.4 |
8.74 |
33 |
Rossendale |
4,106 |
1,785 |
43.5 |
8.57 |
34 |
South Ribble |
4,308 |
1,691 |
39.3 |
7.69 |
35 |
South Lakeland |
6,633 |
1,577 |
23.8 |
7.39 |
36 |
Allerdale |
4,142 |
1,405 |
33.9 |
5.69 |
37 |
Copeland |
2,665 |
1,065 |
40.0 |
4.12 |
38 |
Ribble Valley |
3,278 |
751 |
22.9 |
3.17 |
39 |
Eden |
3,685 |
744 |
20.2 |
2.91 |