An influential House of Commons Committee recently accused the government of gambling with housing benefit reforms, says the British Property Federation. The Work and Pensions Select Committee report notes huge uncertainties surrounding the governments reforms, with a call to monitor the impact and whether discretionary funding provided to local authorities will be sufficient to help support families with acute housing needs.

The BPF say that the report also clears landlords of widespread profiteering from the payment of housing benefit - a recent accusation from the Welfare Reform Minister Lord Freud, and Mayor of London, Boris Johnson - underlining that most of the increase in the nations housing benefit bill simply reflects that there are now more people claiming it because of unemployment and lost income.

Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, Miss Anne Begg, said: "It is difficult to judge at the moment to what extent Housing Benefit claimants will change their behaviour as a result of these proposals.

“The government hopes that people will be able to find cheaper accommodation in cheaper areas and that private landlords will be willing to reduce their rents to Local Housing Allowance claimants, so that the new levels will not result in an increase in homelessness.”

In responding to the above, Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy at the BPF, said: "This report encapsulates the deep concern amongst backbench MPs, landlords and other stakeholders over the reforms to the housing benefit system. We are seeing a huge gamble with high stakes for claimants, landlords and the public purse.

“Whilst politicians on the governments benches are prepared to suck-and-see some of the immediate reforms in the name of deficit reduction, this report illustrates there is deep unease about longer term reforms such as cutting the benefit for long-term job-seeker allowance claimants and linking future housing benefit to consumer price inflation (CPI).

“I am not surprised even Conservative and Lib Dem MPs are asking for more information on these matters, because there has been little clarity on how each will work thus far and in the absence of transparency some signs of a rebellion brewing.”