National Housing Federation: Benefit reforms will push up interest payments

The National Housing Federation (NHF) has warned that changes to the way housing benefit is paid could cost housing associations an extra £30m a year in interest payments. The NHF made the claim in a submission to the Department for Work and Pensions, in which it said making payments directly to tenants instead of landlords would cause lenders to lose confidence in the sector and reconsider loan agreements. It claims: "Any move away from enabling tenants to opt to have their rent paid direct to the landlord, would place further pressure on the capacity of social landlords to engage in development activity. This impact would be far from marginal." The organisation also claimed that removing the right to have money paid directly to a landlord would "deny tenants choice" about their financial situation. Housing association offers amnesty to sublet cheats London-based housing association A2Dominion is offering an amnesty to illegal subletters until the end of July. People subletting their property will be able to hand their keys back to the association without any questions or repercussions. The tenant will lose the right to the sublet property, but will still be eligible for other housing and will not be penalised. Anyone caught illegally subletting a property after the deadline will lose their tenancy and may risk their right to social housing in the future. Laurinda Hornblow, area director at A2Dominion, says: "We are committed to tackling housing fraud and urge anyone who is unlawfully subletting a property to come forward as soon as possible. Housing cheats jump the queue to deprive families in need of a home and they cost local councils, housing associations and residents of local communities a lot of money. On average, we deal with 10 to 12 incidents of housing fraud per year. We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg and intend to increase the number of housing fraud cases we deal with by running this campaign." Shapps: 'Reforms will lead to first cut in waiting lists for 22 years' Housing minister Grant Shapps has pledged that his package of housing reforms will lead to the first reduction in social housing waiting lists for 22 years . The changes will be announced in more detail today. Shapps will say: "It's time to pull social housing out of the sidings and onto the right track. I'm confident that the changes we're making will lead to the first substantial reduction in waiting lists for 22 years. This new system will be more flexible, with councils and housing associations able to offer fixed-term tenancies that give people the helping hand they need, when they need it. But above all it will be fairer – social landlords will now be able to make decisions that genuinely meet the needs of local people, and the changes will not affect the rights of existing tenants." This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Join the housing network for more like this direct to your inbox.