Sir, - All landlords should accept rent allowances granted to those on low incomes and on social welfare and the government should legislate that the acceptance of rent allowances be compulsory.
It is not easy to receive rent allowance in the first place. Those who do get it know that it is simply help rather than a solution to all their financial difficulties. There can be nothing more frustrating than for somebody who is entitled to rent allowance to find that his or her landlord won't accept it.
It makes little difference to landlords whether or not they take rent allowance yet it seems that an increasing number are refusing to do so.
The Government should introduce legislation to mandate landlords to accept rent allowance. In the meantime, landlords themselves should accept the payment for the sake of their tenants. - Yours, etc., Cllr LARRY O'TOOLE, Dublin City Council, Dublin 2.