by Lamiat Sabin

MORE than £9.2 billion in housing benefit payments was pocketed by private landlords last year, shocking new figures revealed yesterday.

And freedom of information requests sent to local authorities by general union GMB reveal 20 private landlords who have benefitted the most.

They show that the bankrolled profiteers are capitalising on welfare payments and low-income tenants who would otherwise be homeless.

GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said: “The abuse of housing benefit by private landlords has gone on for too long.

“Millionaires take sackloads of cash for exploiting those in housing need or stuck on low pay. It’s incredible that the Tories want to extend this billion-pound rip-off.”

A colossal £4.6 million was paid out in 2013-14 to Alderley Property Limited, a letting company that rents out its own properties in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle.

One man, Mohammed Taj, also received payments totalling £3.2m for homes in Watford.

The third-biggest earner, Investing Solutions Limited, was paid £2.2m for housing people in London boroughs Merton, Brent, Lambeth, Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Wandsworth.

The problem is often compounded when housing benefit payments end up in tax havens or if buy-to-let landlords take advantage of the fallout from Margaret Thatcher’s right to buy policy, purchasing swathes of cheap social housing stock.

The Tories are pledging an extension of the policy for 1.3m housing association tenants.

The policy could threaten public housing in Britain, as bigger discounts mean more social tenants could give up secure tenancies to put their names on leases.

Housing association homes could then subsequently fall into the hands of buy-to-let landlords.

In Wandsworth, out of 15,874 council flats bought through right to buy, 6,180 — 40 per cent — are now owned by private landlords who rent them out at market rates.

To add insult to injury, 977 of the Wandsworth landlords own more than one ex-council home, with one owning a whopping 93 properties and a further 16 owning 10 or more.

There are around 4.2m households living in private rented accommodation in Britain and 38 per cent of them — 1.59m in total — have all or part of their rent paid by housing benefit.