Renting to DSS

fubar4164

Hello there,

I would appreciate any help/thoughts on this.

I am about to move out of my flat to a new house and I want to rent out my flat.
I am considering DSS tenants but have read some horror stories about them.

Does anyone have any good experience of renting to DSS? From what I've read, the council will pay the benefit direct to them, so there is no guarantee of payment to me, and then the council will advise them not to move out if the landlord tries to evict them.

Is this true?

Also, would I have a say in who rents the flat? i.e. would I be able to meet them & check references?

Thanks for your help

delain

You are under no obligation to take anyone, you can meet LHA (housing benefit) tenants just like any other tenants.

I recieve partial LHA, and i have a seperate bank account for it to go into so no confusion.

When i moved in i had a guarantor, who would have been liable for me had i decided to smash all the windows and do a runner. You can say you will only take housing benefit tenants who have a guarantor.

We have been here two years and are very happy and have a good relationship with our landlord

estelle123

I was in the same situation as delain but on full HB,i had a guarantor and lived in my flat for nearly 2 years.I met the LL before hand was totally up front with him.Had no problems at all.
The only problem i would have had was finding the 1 month deposit,but i was lucky i have good parents who paid it for me.

debrag

my parents paid for my deposit and first months rent. I get on with the LL and didn't need a guarantor (due probably to the LA being a con) but did for one other cheaper place but couldn't find one.

geek0

fubar4164 wrote: »

Hello there,

I would appreciate any help/thoughts on this.

I am about to move out of my flat to a new house and I want to rent out my flat.
I am considering DSS tenants but have read some horror stories about them.

Does anyone have any good experience of renting to DSS? From what I've read, the council will pay the benefit direct to them, so there is no guarantee of payment to me, and then the council will advise them not to move out if the landlord tries to evict them.

Is this true?

Also, would I have a say in who rents the flat? i.e. would I be able to meet them & check references?

Thanks for your help

Ive been on DSS and renting from a private landlord for the last 8 yrs, the money does get paid to me and i pass it on with the excess i have to pay all together, i would think it just depends on the person, ive never missed a payment and i find it a shame that a lot of landlords wouldnt consider me based on the fact that i recieve housing benefits, maybe references and a guarantor would help to put you're mind at ease. As for getting people to move out i would imagine the tennant would be bound by the rules of their tennancy agreement like everyone else

silvercar

Your renting to the person, who may be claiming LHA/ HB. Judge the person themselves; credit check them and ask for a deposit and guarantor (if no income).

The downside is that, being short of cash, they could end up spending some of their HB on living and get into rent arrears. But an employed person could lose their job and be in the same boat.

The upside is that rent arrears means that you can apply to be paid directly by the council.

Swings and roundabouts, judge each case on its merits.

I have an HB tenant who got into arrears The council now pay me direct. So the downside is that the rent arrears are going to take forever to be repaid, the upside is that I can rely on the council paying the rent on time.

fubar4164

Thanks for your comments, I'm certainly more positive about it than I was 2hrs ago! I guess the most important thing is references and meeting the person!

socrates

fubar4164 wrote: »

Hello there,

I would appreciate any help/thoughts on this.

I am about to move out of my flat to a new house and I want to rent out my flat.
I am considering DSS tenants but have read some horror stories about them.

Does anyone have any good experience of renting to DSS? From what I've read, the council will pay the benefit direct to them, so there is no guarantee of payment to me, and then the council will advise them not to move out if the landlord tries to evict them.

Is this true?

Also, would I have a say in who rents the flat? i.e. would I be able to meet them & check references?

Thanks for your help

You can contact your Local Authority and ask them if they run a Rent Guarantee Scheme.

An example is here:

http://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/TendringDC/Housing/Private+Sector+Housing/Homelessness+and+Housing+Advice/Rent+Deposit+Guarantee+Scheme/

The tenants on this scheme - will be pre vetted - means no ASBO's or similar or history of rent arrears - some Local Authorities may even pay you a financial incentive for taking one of these tenants as they are under pressure to get them out of Temporary Accom.

You will have to make sure your property complies to all the current regulations - gas safety, electrics, smoke alarms fire doors on kitchens and many many others.........

Please please please do NOT use a Letting Agent to find you a tenant who is claiming LHA - you can find them yourself.

LHA tenancies are not for the inexperienced landlord BUT its all about luck.

Look on LandLordzone.com as well for more tips.

PrincessPlaty

I privatly rent and my rent is paid by HB, Im a single mum with 2 children.

My previous landlord was a nightmare and in the end the council decided to stop paying the rent :eek: they really were that bad, there is a thread on here about the problems i had with them, the landlord lost out in a big way because of his LA's actions or lack of!!

My current landlord is absolutly fantastic, and in his own words i am one of the best tenants he has ever had, I rent directly from him with no letting agent involved. The council pay the housing benefit direct to me as soon as i see it in my account i transfer the whole amount straight over to him and then send him a text so that he knows the payment is coming through.
He did have to wait 5 weeks for the first initial payment from housing benefit but they back dated it all in 2 payments within a few days of each other.
I had the first months rent and another months rent as deposit and paid it to him in cash when i signed the tenancy and collected the keys. I didnt need a guarantor nor was i credit checked.

I guess from a landlords point of view it is down to using your common sense and a it of discretion looking at each case individually and deciding if you think it is worth it or not.

Do be aware though that landlords that accept housing benefit are few and far between now so when you advertise your property and state that you accept housing benefit you are likely to get quite a lot of interest!! Some will be better than others!

Good luck and i hope you find good tenants!!

barnaby-bear

fubar4164 wrote: »

Hello there,

I would appreciate any help/thoughts on this.

I am about to move out of my flat to a new house and I want to rent out my flat.
I am considering DSS tenants but have read some horror stories about them.

Does anyone have any good experience of renting to DSS? From what I've read, the council will pay the benefit direct to them, so there is no guarantee of payment to me, and then the council will advise them not to move out if the landlord tries to evict them.

Is this true?

Also, would I have a say in who rents the flat? i.e. would I be able to meet them & check references?

Thanks for your help

Do you have a mortgage? Many mortgage companies forbid letting to this type of tenant so it maybe a none starter. It's apparently because in the rare case of needing to reclaim property a minority do need to follow the stay put for formal eviction route to get rehoused and this small minority although rare is very expensive.

Housing benefit claims can take months to process and many claimants don't have the funds to pay themselves so although claim will be backdated if approved you might need to be prepared to start a few months in arrears and have funds to cover that.

Welshwoofs

fubar4164 wrote: »

Does anyone have any good experience of renting to DSS? From what I've read, the council will pay the benefit direct to them, so there is no guarantee of payment to me, and then the council will advise them not to move out if the landlord tries to evict them.

It's a dilemma I'm facing myself.

Personally, and after a lot of consideration, I've decided to allow pets but disallow DSS. What worries me most about DSS is the following:

- Claims taking a long time to be processed at present
- Ts falling into arrears (whether they're at fault or not)
- Arrears being paid back over a very long time if Council does then pay direct
- Councils advising Ts in arrears to stay put, making eviction long and drawn out

I know it's not particularly fair on what I'm sure is the majority of DSS tenants who don't get into trouble, but at the end of the day it's my finances that would suffer so I'd rather go for people it's easier to get out if rent the stops flowing