Would you offer this family a tenancy ?

silvercar

From your point of view: Most likely worst case scenario is that she keeps the place tidy ( as a proud mother of kids doing hte best she can), can't manage her money, gets into arrears fairly quickly and within a short space of time she is 2 months in arrears and you can get the rent paid to you directly. So can you live with 2 months arrears until direct payment arrives? Is the rent no more than her LHA entitlement? To get arround the arrears which you know will happen sooner or later take a 2 month deposit.

From her point of view: She currently has a secure tenancy, to give it up for a 12 month AST is stupid. She needs to sort out her ex or she will find herself moving again and again.

I suspect her rent arrears are greater than she is making out and she suspects she will be thrown out of the HA property soon and be homeless with the council having no obligation to rehouse. Either that or she is losing her home for another reason (loud arguements with ex disturbing neighbours?) The ex is probably a smoke screen. Definitely check out the current landlord.

Snooze

silvercar wrote: »

From your point of view: Most likely worst case scenario is that she keeps the place tidy ( as a proud mother of kids doing hte best she can), can't manage her money, gets into arrears fairly quickly and within a short space of time she is 2 months in arrears and you can get the rent paid to you directly. So can you live with 2 months arrears until direct payment arrives? Is the rent no more than her LHA entitlement? To get arround the arrears which you know will happen sooner or later take a 2 month deposit.

From her point of view: She currently has a secure tenancy, to give it up for a 12 month AST is stupid. She needs to sort out her ex or she will find herself moving again and again.

I suspect her rent arrears are greater than she is making out and she suspects she will be thrown out of the HA property soon and be homeless with the council having no obligation to rehouse. Either that or she is losing her home for another reason (loud arguements with ex disturbing neighbours?) The ex is probably a smoke screen. Definitely check out the current landlord.

I agree. The whole story sounds extremely fishy to me. All this apparent up-front honesty wreaks of one big smoke screen to get you on-side.

It's difficult to judge without having met her as you can usually make a decision on whether any story is BS or not when you talk to them face-to-face, but just going on what you've said it would be a no from me unless I could verify her story with her current LL which may also answer some other queries regarding this alleged ex and the (real) reason why she's so desperate to move.

:cool:

Rob

clutton_2

I have just spoken to the council and they want £69+vat to do a reference on her for me !!!!

a nice supervisor did say she would send the tenant her latest rental statement which the tenant could then send to me ....

yet more blinking beauracracy ......

when i asked if they would classify her as vulnerable because she is in arrears - the answer was a firm "no - not until she is in arrears with you "

madness absolute madness

and then tenants ask why LLs wont take DSS ??

i have still not made a decision....

if she is going to be a good long term tenant she will be worth her weight in gold.

her rent is a bit less than LHA - and yes i can fund a couple of months arrears before asking for direct payment

gone4gold62

hi as others have said sound a bit of a tall story , very unusual for any one to give up a council /ha tenancy for private rental ,unless she is going to be evicted over rent arrears ,if it was me id give her a miss, sorry just my opinion

socrates

clutton wrote: »

I have just spoken to the council and they want £69+vat to do a reference on her for me !!!!

a nice supervisor did say she would send the tenant her latest rental statement which the tenant could then send to me ....

yet more blinking beauracracy ......

when i asked if they would classify her as vulnerable because she is in arrears - the answer was a firm "no - not until she is in arrears with you "

madness absolute madness

and then tenants ask why LLs wont take DSS ??

i have still not made a decision....

if she is going to be a good long term tenant she will be worth her weight in gold.

her rent is a bit less than LHA - and yes i can fund a couple of months arrears before asking for direct payment

I would not take the word over the phone of that person - regarding not qualifying - a Manager would look at it in their office.

Did you ask about rent guarantee?

One other 'loophole' if you put a rent on her tenancy agreement £25 a week more than the LHA rate then the 'potential' 8 weeks of arrears will come much sooner than 8 weeks and even if she does not default on her payments - when you add up all the £25's and they equal 8 weeks rent you can get the rent paid to you at that point further down the line

Example:

Rent £100 per week

LHA Rate £75 per week

LHA rent over 8 weeks = £600

£25 a week top up by 24 weeks (not paid) = 8 weeks of rent arrears

Automatically they would have to pay you directly - they will need to see evidence of the regular £75 a week going in.

Before other people say its a contrived tenancy you can charge what you like for rent and the tenant can or cannot accept.

You will not gain financially either - nor will the tenant.

I would never put a rent on my Tenancy Agreement less than LHA rate anyway.

silvercar

Being a landlord is not just about collecting the rent each week, you want to also know that the place won't be wrecked. Big generalisation here but on meeting them you can gnerally see if the single mothers with young kids are the sort who would keep the place immaculately or if they are the "Karen Matthews" of this world.

Knowing that you will get a place back tidy at the end of the tenancy is important. Also these sort of families (another generalisation I know) want long term security, so are less likely to move after 6 months, meaning less voids.

So your issue with her is (a) is she telling the truth or will you find you have an estranged husband waking the neighbours and banging the door down and (b) will she manage the rent.

I think you could cover (b) by taking a deposit and using both parts of this statement, "her rent is a bit less than LHA - and yes i can fund a couple of months arrears before asking for direct payment" to your advantage.

So you need to investigate (a) further.

silvercar

:rotfl:
cross posted with socrates, and I was trying to be subtle!

I would increase rent to LHA level initially so that when the LHA starts getting paid to you directly you can begin recouping the 2 months of arrears. Once they are recouped you could reduce the rent (by max £15 a week that would go to the tenant) to the true level. I presume you can issue a section 13 to reduce rent as well as increase.

sarah_elton

If there is indeed a violent or abusive ex, there is also the possibility that he will track her down and cause doorstep scenes that won't go down well with your neighbours. I know that sounds harsh, and I feel very sorry for her if she's in this position, but you really do need to watch out for yourself.

clutton_2

can i just say thank you very much to everyone who has taken the trouble to post so far, and with such supportive posts and inventive ideas.

i have persuaded the council to send me a fax of her current rent statement (after sending them a FAX with her permission under data protection act) - so when that arrives i will be in a much better position to know if she has been truthful - and will post back here later on today

silvercar says "" I suspect her rent arrears are greater than she is making out and she suspects she will be thrown out of the HA property soon and be homeless with the council having no obligation to rehouse.""

this indeed had crossed my mind - hence the need to get clarification from the council

tbs624

Clutton - is this a property for which you are struggling to find a T?