Letting to Housing Benefit Tenant - what to check/do?

travel_freak

Hi,

We're considering letter to a housing benefit client but have heard horror stories about housing benefit being reclaimed and all sorts of other problems. (Don't mean to tar everyone with the same brush as I'm sure there are good and bad housing benefit tenants out there).

Please does anyone have any advice from a landlord's perspective on what to look out for, check etc. Most importantly how to safeguard against housing benefit being reclaimed from us as landlords?

Many thanks in advance.

KeepYourChinUp_2

Get a garantor(spelling?)
Go with your gut instinct.

The council pays the tenant in arrears so expect to wait eight weeks for money.
If they cant pay the rent and bond up front without the council garentee scheme, I would look for other tenants.

As they pay tenant then the onus is on tenant to pay you , they cannot claim rent back off you. Of course this also means the tenant may not pay you the money.

I also recommend you join a landlord association they would help you with this information and legal issues.


sorry can not seem to spell today

P.s. Before the flames- I know not all HB tenants are not bad but they are a riskier group.

mlz1413

I believe HB can only be reclaimed if the HB has been paid directly to you and then the claim for it turns out to be fraudulant. So if you make the tenant pay you then you cannot have rent reclaimed from you.

I agree with Keepyourchinup, guarantor the rental, ensure tenants pays deposit and rent until HB starts, ensure you tell tenant that it is their responsiblity to pay you the rent agreed by the rent day, ie ensure they know you are not going run around the HB / LHA / Council to sort anything out for them.

KeepYourChinUp_2

invariably though you do end up chasing the council up.

Also bank references in our experience are pretty worthless unless they are already bad.

Old LL references should be treated with a pinch of salt incase they just want rid of the tenant.

This is why I say go with gut feelings. When you show them round keep the conversation flowing you would be surprised what people let slip.

mchale

Get a guarantor, who if possible is a home owner, and take copies of photo ID also I am lead to believe if you word your tenancy agreement correctly with regards to wanting two months rent in advance, when the tenancy begins the tenant will be two months in arrears and you can have rent paid directly to yourself (as said dont know if this is possible as I dont have dss tenants)

sillyus

Just wanted to let you know that rent dosen't have to be paid to the tennant, it can be paid to you and that there are some good HB claimants out there.

We get a little help from HB, not alot but some and we also used the rent deposit scheme (I lost my job and became homeless when my daughter was born) to get the flat.

HB pay in four weekly areas so be prepared for that. I would say try and have a chat with the tenants and go with your gut, were not all bad, some of us just need a little help sometimes.

Good Luck

jacnorm

I am also getting some help from H/B and agree with the above post. I have never been even one day late with my rent and I treat the property with respect as its our home. I do have friends that are in good paid work and while they do pay the rent they are not so quick to pay on time. It always seems to H/B tenants that LL worry about letting to but, some of us do make good tenants. My LL had a terrible time with the tenant before us and she was in full time work and when she left the house was disgusting.
I do understand it is hard if you have to wait for the money but, you can et it paid direct to the LL even now as we know of others that have done this.

clutton_2

use the tenancy application form, guarantor form, inventory etc from www.landlordzone.co.uk and do credit checks on all prospective tenant s

tom9980

mlz1413 wrote: »

I believe HB can only be reclaimed if the HB has been paid directly to you and then the claim for it turns out to be fraudulant. So if you make the tenant pay you then you cannot have rent reclaimed from you.

I agree with Keepyourchinup, guarantor the rental, ensure tenants pays deposit and rent until HB starts, ensure you tell tenant that it is their responsiblity to pay you the rent agreed by the rent day, ie ensure they know you are not going run around the HB / LHA / Council to sort anything out for them.

As someone who is sick and needs HB to pay rent i have to agree with this as well.

When i moved into this flat i had a home owning garantor and paid rent up front and had the HB payments paid directly to me, which due to mistakes at the council took 2 months to sort out, it didnt affect my LL because i paid 6 months in advance. By having the HB/LHA paid to the tenant and not the landlord the council cannot claim it back from the LL i think this is a good idea personally it becomes the sole responsibility of the tenant. My landlord had very little to do other than check his BTL mortgage would allow it, check insurance was ok etc then perform all the usual checks like he would have had to do with any normal working professional tenant.

so to recap

1. Garantor if possible.
2. Good credit checks etc as usual.
3. Pay rent in advance at least 3 months if possible, this shows they know how to manage money well usually.
4. Gut instinct and remember someone on Jobseekers for 3+ months is more of a risk than someone who is disabled and needs HB/LHA to pay rent.
5. See how the tenant is managing all the red tape if they are expecting you to do too much extra work then i wouldnt bother with them, really all the LL needs to do is check with mortgage, insurance and maybe fill in a form or write a short letter to confirm the tenancy.

funandfrugal

I have just got my flat back from HB tenants. It was all done through an agent who kept the deposit in order to make good once the tenant left. The tenants left 10 days late - I was lucky they left at all without legal intervention apart from a strong solicitors letter to the agent. The agents have kept the deposit as they needed a deposit for their new place - newly decorated and carpeted for them. Meanwhile my flat is trashed, everything you can think of is ruined from drawings on the fireplace, walls, doors to letterbox gone, every radiator leaking, hole in the bathroom ceiling from leak, no taps, pencil in place of loo roll holder, everything. The agent is not returning my (hourly) calls. Meanwhile I move back in on saturday with no money to fix all this. Peed off and would never do this again. However go with your gut instinct and meet the tenant. I never did, just believed the agent. Sorry not much help of an answer! Good luck x

barnaby-bear

funandfrugal wrote: »

I have just got my flat back from HB tenants. It was all done through an agent who kept the deposit in order to make good once the tenant left. The tenants left 10 days late - I was lucky they left at all without legal intervention apart from a strong solicitors letter to the agent. The agents have kept the deposit as they needed a deposit for their new place - newly decorated and carpeted for them. Meanwhile my flat is trashed, everything you can think of is ruined from drawings on the fireplace, walls, doors to letterbox gone, every radiator leaking, hole in the bathroom ceiling from leak, no taps, pencil in place of loo roll holder, everything. The agent is not returning my (hourly) calls. Meanwhile I move back in on saturday with no money to fix all this. Peed off and would never do this again. However go with your gut instinct and meet the tenant. I never did, just believed the agent. Sorry not much help of an answer! Good luck x

Your deposit should not have been released for the new property without your permission. Pursue your agent for this.