Renting when on benefits

earthmother

We currently rent privately, but when we moved in had our own means so it wasn't an issue. Now we claim HB.

The landlord has asked us to vacate early (tenancy agreement runs until next February) as he needs the property himself due to health reasons (it's a bungalow). There's not a problem with that in its own right - at the end of the day Social Services were about to ask him if they could do some adaptions here as it doesn't meet all our needs any more, and he's offering us a compensatory payment to cover our next deposit and moving costs, so it could work out well for us ...


We are going to get on the council list - but we've been on it before, and they count in years not months when you need accessible properties for families (and they won't rehome you into a 'halfway measure', something that would do but isn't exactly as required, to see you through either) - so we are going to need an element of private renting, if, that is, we can find someone else to let to us.

What is the current feeling among landlords with regard to renting to benefit recipients? I know the system is changing, although it's yet to affect us, so I don't know all the details of how the changes affect landlords.

Can anyone shed any light or offer any suggestions?

clutton_2

if you leave voluntarily before the end of your tenancy agreement, and before the landlord has taken you to court to get you out, and before the bailiffs turn up to hoik you out onto the street - the local authority will deem you as having "made yourselves voluntarily homeless" and will not consider offering you any housing of any type.

housing benefit was replaced by Local Housing Allowance in April and all allowances now go directly to the tenants - and you will have enormous difficulty in finding a landlord who will house you at all - landlords are very afraid of not being paid their rent by tenants who may abscond with the monies.

i am sorry that the landlord wants his house back for health reasons - but he has signed an agreement to house you till feb. - but there are certain specific circumstances in which a court CAN force an early end to an agreement and a LL wanting the house back for his own occupation is one of these

if he wants you out - such that he can get his house back for himself AND so that you can be offered local authority housing - the ONLY way is for him to take you to court

if you need disabled resources in a property - then you really must stay exactly where you are to protect your own family's future

contact Shelter who have an 0800 number and who can advise you

current housing policy is an absolute disgrace - but that is the way it is right now

best wishes

earthmother

Thanks Clutton

Our Social Services bod had made out that (before all this with the landlord came about) we'd have no problems getting onto the social housing list before the end of our tenancy because of the work that needs doing to this place to bring it up to spec for hubby - but there again she's not been that bright all along, so why am I surprised she was wrong on that :rolleyes:


What does the court procedure involve? - he's been good to us over the years, and I really don't want to put him through this, let alone us - neither side has had good health recently and I don't think any of us needs the stress. My OH has spent 4 out of the last 8 weeks in hospital with at least two occassions where the docs said afterwards 'just a few more hours/a little worse and you wouldn't have got him back' and is even less mobile than he was before, LL has suffered some sort of spinal injury that has left him permanently paralysed


I'll give Shelter a call, and go down to the housing office, in the morning, and see what can be done

Typical that this had to happen now - finally got hubby out of the grips of the NHS (hopefully), finally got rid of the chicken pox from the kids, got our 'good condition' cheque from Motability in the post this morning, had a lovely day out (after cancelling most of the summer), and then came home to this - can't win at the moment :rolleyes:

johnwayne

When I was looking into LHA I read that you could opt to have it paid directly to the landlord so perhaps this might help you talk someone round.

earthmother

Thanks johnwayne, I'll query that with the housing office in the morning

house184

clutton wrote: »

if you leave voluntarily before the end of your tenancy agreement, and before the landlord has taken you to court to get you out, and before the bailiffs turn up to hoik you out onto the street - the local authority will deem you as having "made yourselves voluntarily homeless" and will not consider offering you any housing of any type.

This might be a little off topic but I'd just like to say that this is not always the case. Local Authorities will often tell people that they will be intentionally homeless should they leave before the bailiffs turn up regardless of the fact that you cannot actually be intentionally homeless if the accommodation is not reasonable for you to continue to occupy. Whilst the OP's accommodation appears reasonable to continue to occupy there are many circumstances where it is not.

Take for example a section 21 notice, pretty much the most common way in which a LL will begin the whole possession process. If a tenant goes to a LA with a notice they LA will usually say you have to be kicked out by a baliff before we can help. This is not the case.

8.32 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities suggests that where a notice is valid and that the LA are satisfied that the LL will continue with possession proceedings after the expiration of the notice then it is unlikely that it would be reasonable for the applicant to continue to occupy their accommodation after the expiration of their notice. If it is unreaosnable for them to continue to occupy their accommodation then they are homeless and as such they should be placed into accommodation as per section 188 of The Housing Act 1996 if the LA have reason to believe that they may have a priority need pending the outcome of the LA's enquiries under section 184.

Should the date of homelessness be the expiration of the notice then the applicant will be threatened with homelessness 28 days before its expiry and it is from that period that the LA should take a 'homeless approach' if a client in such a situation requests assistance with their threatened homeless. After all the LA only need to have reason to believe the applicant may be homeless or threatened with homelessness in 28 days (a very low burden of proof).

The Code of Guidance suggests that if the LA think it reasonable for you to continue to occupy the accommodation following the expiry of your sec 21 notice they should notify you in writing as per a sec 184 letter. Therefore ASK FOR THE DECISION IN WRITING. If you have approached the LA with 28 days or less before the expiration of your notice you are entitled to such a written decision letter.

There are many other situations where accommodation can be unreasonable to continue to occupy.

RecoveringAlcoholic

From the information posted my guess is that Shelter would be very interested in the issues raised in this thread.

http://www.shelter.org.uk/

house184

Shelter knows gatekeeping as it's called happens all the time, the Government know it happens all the time, the CAB knows it happens all the time.

Apart from the quite obvious it's against the Law there really isn't that much incentive for the Government to do much about it. It would hit their homelessness statistics to much

Fishingtime

I am a landlord of one property, I do not mind people on HB.
They social put the money straight into my account.
The one big problem is every year they reduce the payments,usually april time.
This then takes my tennant 2-3 months to sort out,I do eventually get the arrears,but it is annoying.
And while I can handle it some landlords will not tolerate it

earthmother

Thank you all for your posts - I'm slowly digesting them, and will make some enquiries over the course of the morning, and let you know how it all goes.


Yoxford - we have our HB come direct to us, but we've never experienced any drop like that, it always goes up slightly with the annual increase. The only thing that might affect it (in our case at least) is that we have to get a letter from IB confirming what tax will be paid, and then HB adjust our claim to reflect that - but it's never a significant amount, and never takes more than a couple of (fortnightly) payments to do. Do different councils do things differently?

Fishingtime

The councils must do it different,as you say yours goes up automatically annually.
I do not get an increase in rent each year from them, the tennant has to go in and say the rent has gone up.