Morning Briefing: more than 70% of UC tenants in London in rent arrears

In the news

The BBC reports that more than 70% of council tenants in London on Universal Credit are in rent arrears.

Universal Credit has been rolled out in eight London boroughs and as of January nearly 10,000 council tenants claiming Universal Credit owed money for rent, the BBC found.

Homelessness outreach teams have helped more than 1,000 people facing nights sleeping outside in subzero temperatures after alerts from the public, The Guardian reports.

Charities said record numbers of referrals had been received over the past three days via the StreetLink phone app – which enables the public to help street sleepers – reflecting heightened concern as temperatures have dropped.

Demand from prospective buyers looking for a new home jumped by over 37% last month, the Daily Mail reports.

In the usual New Year spike in property market activity, the number of would-be buyers rose from 268 per estate agent branch in December to 367 last month, NAEA Propertymark said.

Meanwhile, average house prices dipped by 1.12% last month to £245,742, but year-on-year grew by 0.8%, separate findings from the Mortgage Advice Bureau reveal.