Should I accept a DSS tenant?

Christabel

Your views wanted please. I've always said no to DSS but what do other people think? What experiences have you had? I hear that the tenant is able to stop the dss paying you the rent and then you are stuck.

Karen1_2

I do a lot of reading on the landlord-forum.co.uk and they advise against. It might be worth haveing a look so that you can see other people's experiences. Mind you, if I'd had a long void period on a property I'd probably risk it!

PasturesNew

Look at your insurance policy. You might need to pay extra insurance and there might be some other hoops to jump through.

As to whether you should take them, it depends what sort of dss they are and why they need a place. Are they temporary dss/will get a job soon, or are they career scroungers, do they have 16 kids and 4 dogs or are they single/late 50s and allergic to animals.

They're all different individuals, with different backgrounds/stories/reasons and different likelihood of behaviours.

barnaby-bear

Christabel wrote: »

Your views wanted please. I've always said no to DSS but what do other people think? What experiences have you had? I hear that the tenant is able to stop the dss paying you the rent and then you are stuck.

Is there a mortgage on the property?
Check paperwork a large proportion of mortgagers forbid letting to this group of tenants.

sooz

Also look at your mortgage conditons. Mine specifically do not allow me to take DSS/HB/LHA tenants. What happens if a tenant moves in, circumstances change & they have to claim LHA I don't know

As Pastures said, look at the individual person, not how they are paying. With some LHA tenants, you know you are getting someone guaranteed to pay the rent, who wants to stay in your property for a long time.

Check to see what the LHA rates are for your area (there is a link somewhere & I can't find it right now)

Aside from my mortgage conditions, I don't take LHA tenants as

1) LHA is a lot less than market value in my area. Yes, you can ask for top ups, but I could never achieve full market rent

2)Rent is paid in arrears by the council. It's now paid direct to tenants to give them some financial responsibility! However, if they get more than 8 weeks into arrears, you can apply to be paid directly.

3) If you do get paid directly, & it later turns out the tenant was not eligable for LHA (or HB as it was) the council can turn round & try to claim it back from the LL :eek:

4)You are unlikely to get a deposit, although some councils have a bond guarantee scheme

5) If you want to get the tenant out, rather than them choosing to relocate, you'll almost certainly end up going to court. This again, is due to the council rules about the tenants not making themselves intentionally homeless.

So aside from my mortgage conditions, my main problem with LHA tenants is the attitude of the council towards the LL.

rexel

if you get asingle mother with two small children you will have no trouble

paintpot

I agree with the other posters.

In a nutshell, DSS = higher risk. As a landlord, you want to try and minimise risk. Thus, if your property is rentable to non DSS, then why increase your risk by taking DSS.

There are good and bad tenants, DSS or not, so a thorough checking process is imperative. Getting a homeowning guarantor or rent guarantee insurance should also be considered. DSS brings with it a whole host of issues that don't apply to non DSS tenants as detailed above.

baileysbattlebus

When my daughter rented for a year, she had her son with her, he was 3 at the time,she worked part time she got tax credits and housing benefit. The rent worked out at 2/3 from her and 1/3 from HB.

Her LL was happy to take her, the HB part of he rent went straight to LL, 4 weekly in arrears, this did cause some confusion on the part of the LL, he thought she was in arrears and didn't seem to be able to get his head round it, I ended up doing a spreadsheet for him. The remaining rent came out of her salary / tax credits.

With hindsight she would have been better to get the HB paid directly to her and paying it monthly and not 4 weekly. She decided to have the HB part paid directly to the LL in case she was hard up one month and thought she might be tempted to spend it as it was 4 weekly and not monthly. The other part of the rent was paid by direct debit on the day after she got paid.

The council loaned her deposit and first months rent.

We stood as guarantors for her.

jebervic

I can't stress how important it is to thoroughly make pre tenancy checks on any prospective tenants, personally I wouldn't take anyone on HB, I would want someone working, I would also want references from previous LL and credit checks, then ask for bank ststements to show how they conduct their account and also to see if they paid their rent on time etc.

I can't stress how important the pre tenancy checks.

PasturesNew

rexel wrote: »

if you get asingle mother with two small children you will have no trouble

Based on what? They could be a nightmare.
It's the individual people more than the group they fall into.

emsywoo123

PasturesNew wrote: »

Based on what? They could be a nightmare.
It's the individual people more than the group they fall into.

I agree. I can only speak as a tenant (who has been funded by both HB and privately) and I did not change as a person when I needed HB. I did and still do treat the house with respect.:cool: