Should I accept a DSS tenant?

treliac

chiefgoobster wrote: »

They should put pond life like this on some remote island (if there were one) in the middle of the North Sea and let 'em get on with it.

Just picking out this line from the whole post changes the emphasis and is unfair to 1971rr. In it's context you can see why the feeling is strong.

There again, I'm not now sure whether your reference to pond life is directed at the poster or their neighbours

chiefgoobster

treliac wrote: »

whether your reference to pond life is directed at the poster or their neighbours

....most definately directed to the unruly neighbours.I have tenants who are of similar breed but then , as said before , it's not fair to tar everyone with the same brush.

Rabiddog_2

The DSS closed ..ooooh..years ago?

zoelouise88

i would say accept dss, obviously you would want to meet them first to see what they are like but people on benefits are no worse or better than working people.
also if they receive hb you no you will get your rent every month and on time.

mrs_deadline

zoelouise88 wrote: »

also if they receive hb you no you will get your rent every month and on time.

You would think so but it's not necessarily that simple. As clutton said, hefty bank charges can easily be deducted from hb as from any other funding going into an account, and this is a hard one to turn around once it's happened once. Plus any change of circumstances (getting a job, losing a job) and the tenant is weeks if not months without any benefit at all while the revised claim goes through. Things I've found out the hard way since I signed as a guarantor...

lil'H

I find it very amusing when people say they wouldn't rent to people on housing benefit. Most landlords don't realise just how many of their tenants are in receipt of it. Many many working people get housing benefit, particuarly parents, in my area a single parent earning 25000 a year will often still be on housing benefit. They can get it paid directly into their own account and you never know. I know of numerous tenants whose landlords don't know, and tenants in their right mind never tell agents, or they know they wouldn't get anywhere.

H

Bungarm2001

We recently took on a tenant in receipt of LHA (against my gut feeling I might add) and are still waiting for the council to get their act together re the payments to the tenant.

Tenant has been great and getting by really well even tho English is not her first language. She seems very happy in her new home and has paid us the rent, as it has become due, in cash and on time.

It's the bluddy council or DWP whatever who have the payments stalled at source, and predicatably, they won't talk to us about the difficulties even tho our tenant is more than happy folr us to deal with stuff on her behalf, and have told them so several times (LHA admins not talking/communicating in any way with the LL was a major difficulty amongst others which put us off taking on tenants on benefit)

Even tho we have absolutely no complaints whatsoever about our LHA tenant, we will be very wary of taking on another because of all the difficulties. We know that (so far anyway) we are lucky that the tenant is happy, wants to be there long term and is happily paying her way...but luck shouldn't come into it....

RobinC_2

We live next door to a single mother on benefits and she has been a nightmare. The worst has been the partying, the "boom, boom, boom" at all times of day or night, I used to dread the weekend especially because you knew what you were in for. After a LONG process of getting the council involved (letters sent, noise enforcement officers over), things have greatly improved.
On top of that, her and her boyfriend fought like cats and dogs (I mean, nasty fighting, police down every few months). Thankfully, they broke up and things are calmer with the new one. The only thing that's a drag now is sceaming kids!
Being on school holidays, iI've figured out that her lifestyle is stay up late, make a lot of noise, then sleep in the next day. If she had to get up and go to work like the rest of us, she'd probably appreciate the need for a good night's sleep at reasonable hours. More frustrating, it's our tax money paying her rent, etc! (Sorry for the rant).
Of course, I realise that not all people on benefits are like her before people jump on my case! But, as others have said, I think it's a higher risk that you could have these kinds of problems.
When we rent or eventually buy, I will definitely do my best to check out the neighbours! And, sorry to say, if it's a single mother on benefits, I'll run a mile!

Captain_Mainwaring_2

claireyfairy wrote: »

Cor blimey!! Being on benefit does not make you a bad tenant. I work with drug users and many are on benefit whilst in treatment, many would make good tenants. Perhaps meet them as an individual and then judge?

Drug users would make good tenants?

I think i'd have to differ with you there.

Loretta

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

We recently took on a tenant in receipt of LHA (against my gut feeling I might add) and are still waiting for the council to get their act together re the payments to the tenant.

Tenant has been great and getting by really well even tho English is not her first language. She seems very happy in her new home and has paid us the rent, as it has become due, in cash and on time.

It's the bluddy council or DWP whatever who have the payments stalled at source, and predicatably, they won't talk to us about the difficulties even tho our tenant is more than happy folr us to deal with stuff on her behalf, and have told them so several times (LHA admins not talking/communicating in any way with the LL was a major difficulty amongst others which put us off taking on tenants on benefit)

Even tho we have absolutely no complaints whatsoever about our LHA tenant, we will be very wary of taking on another because of all the difficulties. We know that (so far anyway) we are lucky that the tenant is happy, wants to be there long term and is happily paying her way...but luck shouldn't come into it....

I recently helped a retired couple, a very straightforward HB claim, with their claim and I am amazed at the inefficiency and unhelpfullness I found. They were asked for so mich identification it was unbeleivable and when it was all supplied every time I phoned, and I phoned twice a day to make it happen, I was always told 'we are waiting for this or that' and I had to explain they had it already. Every time I took some papers in I insisted on having a reciept which i could refer to. often the person on the end of the phone had to be told by me to scroll down on their screen to see the whole situation and they were just so bored. My couple got some money in a month which I understand is virtually unheard of, but nothing has been regular in the past 2 months, they get random cheques through and it has not settled down to a cheque for the same amount arriving on the same date every month. Luckily they had saving to cover this but I am sure most people don't. I have put n a complaint and I expect that will take months but I am determined to see it through.

It is not the claimants who are always the problem it is the Council claims people who are just awful. There has been a lot of predjudice in these replies but real professional Landlords like Clutton know how it really works and although she is prepared to use her own judgment and check people herself she knows that there are huge difficulties with the Council which make is worse for people who already maybe have problems and make them worse, and if you are trying to run a business whatever good intentions you have you simply cannot afford the time or the money that are wasted by the delays casued by the Council. I would think that most peoples claims are routine and only some need extra time spent on them but from my recent experience of every simgle person I spoke to at my HB office none of them could care less, were obviously bored stiff, they were all inefficient and obstructive and had no clue at all how to do their job. Without help from people on here I doubt if I would have got as far as I have and the couple I was helping would not have got anywhere at all. I am lucky that I have access to the internet and this site, I have a phone to use and can afford the endless calls I had to make and I have a car, we live in the country, to keep taking the same documents over and over again to the council and of course it is always easier to deal with someone else's problems than your own. This has been an eye opener for me and I will insist that I am told what will happen to this bunch of useless employees the council have and if they are going to be sent for retraining.

Any dealing with public bodies seem to be like this

Sorry rant over