I sympathise with Mr Smith (Opinion, January 31) and his difficulty in finding rented accommodation because he is on housing benefit.

One problem is the change in the procedures of the housing department of Brighton and Hove Council.

Previously, landlords could ring up and inquire how an application by a tenant was proceeding. Now the view is that this is against the Data Protection Act and no information will be given out.

At the beginning of a new tenancy, housing benefit rents are often paid out three months in arrears. Some landlords have found after a tenant has been in a property for two or three months with no rent paid that no application for benefit has been made by the tenant or else it has been rejected. Once this has happened it makes a landlord very wary of letting to a claimant again.

Another problem is that there is only a certain amount of rented accommodation in the city. The success of the Place to Be campaign has inevitably attracted more people here, most wanting to rent.

Then we have more than 9,000 asylum seekers here. Landlords can get 20 per cent above housing benefit rents if they house them and get paid six months in advance.

So until the Government tackles the procedures for housing benefit and sends back asylum seekers as soon as their applications to stay are turned down, I fear the position of Mr Smith will only get worse.

-Mrs K. Jones, Hove