Dozens of tenants in Bradford are being threatened with eviction from their homes because housing benefit claims are taking up to three months to process, the Citizens Advice Bureau warned today.

And in a report the organisation blamed social landlords, like councils and housing associations, for being too quick to evict their tenants.

One Bradford MP said he was appalled by the delay in processing housing benefits although the Council has denied there is a backlog.

In its report, the CAB warns that social "premature court action" is putting thousands of tenants at risk of being homeless. Some tenants faced eviction when they owed less than £250.

It says that social landlords should only use court action as a last resort, but possession orders nationally increased by 12 per cent in 2002. Of these, 71 per cent of tenants were entitled to housing benefit.

Officers at Bradford's Citizens Advice Bureau in Mill Street said they see at least one tenant a day with rent arrears.

Deputy manager Alex Bohdanowicz said: "The most common reason is the delay in housing benefit. One side of the Council is issuing housing benefit, while on the other it takes court action when arrears build up. Housing benefit can take in excess of three months."

Chas Housing Aid represents social tenants - many of whom are single parents - in court.

Jan Curry, manager of Advice Services at Chas, said Bradford Council had asked for more possession orders in the past three months. "We have been very busy recently," she added.

Bradford West Labour MP Marsha Singh said he was "doubly appalled" at the fact that the backlog in benefits was causing people to suffer the threat of eviction.

"I will bring this matter to the attention of the chief executive," he said.

In 2001, only 42 per cent of renewal claims were processed in time.

A year ago, tenants waited two months for housing benefit, even though the time had been cut by a third.

Today Bradford Community Housing Trust Group, which took over control of the Council's 26,000 homes on Monday, said it will "avoid evictions at all costs".

Its chief executive Geraldine Howley said: "Tenants are only evicted when they owe significant amounts and have failed to enter into an agreement to pay off the debt. In the case of vulnerable families, we may sometimes relocate them to temporary accommodation."

In 2001/2, of the 1,125 homeless tenants in Bradford, only two had been evicted through rent arrears, she said.

Bradford South Labour Gerry Sutcliffe said evidence from his constituents last year appear to back the CAB's findings but he believed the situation would be better under the new housing trust.

But Councillor David Ford (Green, Shipley West) was worried that former council tenants will have fewer rights.

"The record with housing associations is not as good as the local authority," he said.

"Tenants in my ward have had serious problems with housing benefit, but the housing associations just say 'tough'."