Petition Private landlords are on a gravy train

The Government must stop destroying the Welfare State and reform the £20b Housing Benefit system instead -

1.The Government must abolish the private rented sector and compulsorily purchase all second residential properties at a fraction of their value, or commandeer them.

2.It must give them to County Councils as community housing. Past profits would offset any loss to the private landlord, and tenants would keep their homes.

3.Rents should never exceed the cost of maintaining the housing stock. Affordability is the only market value - not greed.

4.The Housing Benefit cost is too high to justify the existence of a landlord class who profits from other people's need for housing.

5.It is wrong that tenants should bear the stigma of claiming Housing Benefit, when it is the landlord who profits at the Council Tax payer's expense.

6.The savings would remove the reason for punishing the vulnerable with welfare cuts and restore the dignity of ordinary people.