housing benefit and renting ... ?

grassgirl

is there any help anywhere for single parent families to start renting ?

i ring up all the letting agents weekly and there is never anyone who will accept housing benefit. i'm starting to even consider loaning money to pay for a place 100% by myself without housing benefit.


any comments will be very welcome

Gem

Scarlett1

Ring your local council and ask them if they have a rent deposit scheme :beer:

black-saturn

Local councils also sometimes have a list of landlords and lettings agencies in the area who will take people on benefit and/or without a deposit. It's usually up to the individual owner whether or not they will accept people on benefit. Not all houses with one agency will be the same.

Chrysalis

their is no law that will help you on this, I find this a hole in the system.

Catch 22 that almost all landlords want tenants not claiming benefits.
Housing benefit doesnt cover deposits and you cant claim till you move in meaning you have to find the first 1 or 2 months rent from elsewhere maybe even longer since some claims take many months.

I think it does depend on the council how much help you get, generally if you not on their priority list scheme for council housing you will be told you on your own. What should help is if you have rented privately before and had no problems get a reference of the previous landlord, this should be worth something if its for a number of years. Also look for a private landlord not letting through an agency, agencies will almost certianly do a ton of checks on you to verify employment etc. and be strict who they take on, a private landlord will more likely accept the reference alongside initial payment to move in. If you got no reference then it will be very tough and a not sure how you will get anywhere without knowing the right landlord, their is some out there that will take you on but they very rare.

cifpower

If you do claim benefits, you could even apply for a Crisis Loan to cover the deposit or first month's rent for your house. I applied for £350 and was accepted - I have to repay £6.50 a week.

CIS

You can have HB paid direct to yourself without the landlord knowing, dont tell them your claiming HB, claim HB for yourself , and then you just need to pay them the money the council pay to you.

Unless you tell them they have no way of knowing that your claiming HB.

cifpower

CIS wrote:

You can have HB paid direct to yourself without the landlord knowing, dont tell them your claiming HB, claim HB for yourself , and then you just need to pay them the money the council pay to you.

Unless you tell them they have no way of knowing that your claiming HB.

When I applied for HB, I had to get the landlord to fill in part of the form and ask them to send it in seperately.

chugalug

You don't have to do this anymore although the LA would want a copy of the tenancy agreement to show you are renting the property.

You could just not tell the landlord that you're claiming HB but then you'd have to find a deposit, a months rent in advance and then pay the rent in full until HB pay you - in reality there would be a delay of at least 8 weeks. Is this practical.

You can always approach the council for help but the type of help you'd get would depend on what part of the country you're in. If you need any help because you cant find housing contact Shelter. Their website is https://www.shelter.org.uk - they will also have a freephone number where you can talk through your options with someone. Alternatively try the CAB. HTH

cifpower

chugalug wrote:

You don't have to do this anymore although the LA would want a copy of the tenancy agreement to show you are renting the property.

You could just not tell the landlord that you're claiming HB but then you'd have to find a deposit, a months rent in advance and then pay the rent in full until HB pay you - in reality there would be a delay of at least 8 weeks. Is this practical.

You can always approach the council for help but the type of help you'd get would depend on what part of the country you're in. If you need any help because you cant find housing contact Shelter. Their website is https://www.shelter.org.uk - they will also have a freephone number where you can talk through your options with someone. Alternatively try the CAB. HTH

The system works differently in Northern Ireland then.

black-saturn

As far as I know you dont have to tell the landlord you are on HB but there is a part of the form where you have to give your landlord/agents name and address. Then when a benefit decision is made they write to them too. Also agents will usually ask for employers details so if you've not got an employer you can hardly make one up!!

chugalug

In this area, the form also asks if you give permission for HB to contact your landlord. You can refuse as not everyone wants their landlord to know they're claiming benefit.