why do all letting agents say 'no DSS'

helen1974

i'm trying to rent a private house, and will be needing Housing benifit to help pay my rent, but am finding every agent says no DSS, are they allowed to say this?
i've tried to reason with them, inviting them to see my current home, to see it is well looked after etc... have offered a guarantor, have even sugested that i meet the landlord in person so they can see i'm normal!
i just feel like i'm being punished for a seperation and having to move out of family home..... surely there must be non-DSS tenants who are worse behaved or run up rent arrears... any thoughts...... ????

edgex

i think its more to do with historical troubles with getting the actual rent paid.

barnaby-bear

helen1974 wrote: »

i'm trying to rent a private house, and will be needing Housing benifit to help pay my rent, but am finding every agent says no DSS, are they allowed to say this?
i've tried to reason with them, inviting them to see my current home, to see it is well looked after etc... have offered a guarantor, have even sugested that i meet the landlord in person so they can see i'm normal!
i just feel like i'm being punished for a seperation and having to move out of family home..... surely there must be non-DSS tenants who are worse behaved or run up rent arrears... any thoughts...... ????

HB/LHA tenants are likely to long term be better off in social housing and also to have a higher priority so will probably be on the lists so are likely to leave suddenly if offered social housing and unlikely to have money to pay double rent or have assets to be pursued for it. Also some councils insist that to get higher social housing priority if given notice by the LL that the tenant stays put and forces it to formal (expensive for LL and hassle) eviction, since such tenants find it harder to find alternative accommodation as less funds in general for deposit/up front rent and the no DSS thing they may have no choice but to force this situation.

HB/LHA paid directly to LL can be reclaimed if claim is fraudulant even though LL has no part in it. If paid directly to tenant some fail to realise their claim is not LLs concern and they have to pay the shortfall and if claim is delayed, many expect LL to wait until claim kicks in which can be many weeks.

Because of the higher probability of notice / eviction problems to reclaim the property if LLs circumstances change and they need property back/to sell and the lower value of a property with a tenant many mortgage lenders forbid knowingly letting to "DSS" so LLs may not have permission. Insurances are higher for DSS tenants as the small problem minority mean statistically problems are on average more expensive.

Many LLs are in it for short term (can't sell) and don't want a potential long term tenant with hassles of notice/eviction and such lets aren't suitable really for those wanting to be settled anyway.

It's about average statistics and the fact mortgages are lending vast sums of money against an asset and primarily the LL or the bank wants to be able to cash in the asset fairly easily if necessary.

housebug

We've got the same problem. We'd like to move some place less expensive to keep, but aren't able to now. We should have tried to move before Christmas when we still had some savings in the bank, rather than now when all the money is gone, there's no work in sight and we've been forced onto benefits.

And in reply to the post above me, we DO NOT want to move into social housing nor do we want to rent short term. Fingers crossed at least one of us will be back in work before the Summer so we no longer need benefits. It would appear there is to be no exceptions, regardless of the fact we're now living in exceptional times.

DdraigGoch

thanks for that, barnaby-bear. Hemm, and here's me wanting to rent out a house to someone on DSS. Someone I know and trust who needs a house, and I can help out. The council will be paying the rent, I am assurred.

What's the downside for me in this situation?

Pee

It is dealing with the council not with the tenants on benefits that I have always had problems.

barnaby-bear

DdraigGoch wrote: »

thanks for that, barnaby-bear. Hemm, and here's me wanting to rent out a house to someone on DSS. Someone I know and trust who needs a house, and I can help out. The council will be paying the rent, I am assurred.

What's the downside for me in this situation?

Many people in your situation can't if they have a mortgage on the property as the terms simply forbid it.

Pee

helen1974 wrote: »

i'm trying to rent a private house, and will be needing Housing benifit to help pay my rent, but am finding every agent says no DSS, are they allowed to say this?
i've tried to reason with them, inviting them to see my current home, to see it is well looked after etc... have offered a guarantor, have even sugested that i meet the landlord in person so they can see i'm normal!
i just feel like i'm being punished for a seperation and having to move out of family home..... surely there must be non-DSS tenants who are worse behaved or run up rent arrears... any thoughts...... ????

But surely there is a landlord willing to take your options into account? I think the letting market is about equal with demand now. Where I live, anyway.

DdraigGoch

Thanks, I'll check. Presuming I can, though, what downsides could you see ahead for me - I've never been a landlord before ....

barnaby-bear

housebug wrote: »

We've got the same problem. We'd like to move some place less expensive to keep, but aren't able to now. We should have tried to move before Christmas when we still had some savings in the bank, rather than now when all the money is gone, there's no work in sight and we've been forced onto benefits.

And in reply to the post above me, we DO NOT want to move into social housing nor do we want to rent short term. Fingers crossed at least one of us will be back in work before the Summer so we no longer need benefits. It would appear there is to be no exceptions, regardless of the fact we're now living in exceptional times.

You don't but on *average* and *statistically* you are in a group where it is more likely to need/want social housing. Plus more likely you will want to stay long-term (if on LHA/HB MORE likely you will be looking at renting as a long term option) exactly what a lot of LLs do not want as they want to cash in the asset quickly / are waiting for the housing market to 'improve'.

barnaby-bear

Pee wrote: »

It is dealing with the council not with the tenants on benefits that I have always had problems.

Many LLs can not afford to cover a mortgage whilst the rent is in arrears 3 months waiting for a LHA/HB claim and many tenants can't afford to fund it in interim from their own funds.