Renting a Property - On Housing Benefit

peterpan12_2

I am currently trying to help my dad find a property to rent but he is claiming Housing Benefit, so it seems to be a problem.

He has been renting from a family friend for the past 5 years and from a private landlord before that, but his current landlord has just died and the property is to be sold.

He does not have a deposit to get back as this was from a friend and never required one, is there any help from council in getting a deposit or will I need to find this for him?

How do I go about finding a property to rent, in the past I have always seen no DSS and for obvious reasons he will not do well on credit-checks (although he does not owe any money or have any defaults, he also doesn't earn any money as he is on Dis Benefits and Pension Credits.

My Dad is a very proud man and will not admit that he is in a spot of bother, and keeps telling me that he has everything in hand, but I know he doesnt and needs to find somewhere. He does have about 4 months on his side but any advice would be great.

Oh he also has a very small and well behaved Dog, he has had this for years and could not bear to be without the dog, she is his flat mate and best friend!

The advice i need is.............
1. How can you get around the 1 months advanced rent and deposit?
2. Renting with a small dog
3. Finding a property without using letting agents (as they dont seem interested in HB clients)

He has a track record of always paying his rent on time, 75% is paid direct to the landlord and the other is paid by me as a standing order ( as i dont want him living in a horrible area so I top it up for him as HB doesnt pay enough).

Any help from Landlords or Agents would be great.

Thanks

clutton_2

councils will have lists of "Accredited Landlords" whose properties have been inspected and are up to a decent standard - ask for a copy from the Private REnted SEctor Officer

Some councils also offer a "Bond Scheme" which can be a "paper-bond" whereby teh council guarantee the bond to the landlord against damage or rent arrears at the end of the tenancy.

your dad could use you as his guarantor - could you provide this for him >

as a LL who does take LHA tenants, your dad sounds a good bet to me. Maybe you could provide evidence via bank statements of him having paid the rent regularly for the past couple of years and you show your bank statements showing the top up.

you could put a House Wanted advert in yoru local paper - and a local landlord may apply to you - then you are in control and can "sell yourselves"! more easily

good luck

PasturesNew

He will now need to apply for LHA. The amount he can get will depend on where he wants to live, you can look it up by postcode here: https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/LHASearchIntro.aspx

Due to his age (over 25) and living alone, he will qualify for the "1 bed self-contained" rate.

LHA will be paid directly to him, not to the landlord, you are completely free to top up his rent. LHA just limits how much he'll receive, not how much he (you) can spend. At the moment (it will be withdrawn shortly), if your actual rent is up to £15/week less than the LHA amount, then he can trouser the extra £15.week.

For pets, I've noticed that The Sun newspaper classified advertisements enable you to look for places that do allow dogs (there's a tick box in the search criteria).

Another fee he might come across is the credit check, which can be up to £200/person, as a guarantor you might have to pay/pass this yourself.

Private renting's a dirty, dirty, expensive business ... hope this information has helped you find your way through.

clutton_2

""Private renting's a dirty, dirty, expensive business ""

not necessarily - i am a private LL and charge £50 per applicant for all fees - thats not expensive, its certainly not dirty............

i do take exception to such wide generalisations

sjcollett

Peterpan12 I think you will find many agents have changed their minds towards DSS claimants in these times. It would be wise to ensure you could get the deposit and rent in advance together before you approach agents. While there are more people on DSS, it also means that landlords are more wary and so want the safety of that financial buffer. You could approach the local council or you could loan it to your father [it's a small price to pay to ensure he lives somewhere nice].

Lastly, the key thing that any agent/ landlord is looking for is that the rent will be paid on time with no problems. Providing proof of this would stand you in good stead and I would also say that you shouldn't worry too much about the credit checks if you don't have adverse credit. Agents are able to tell the difference between tenants who have no lending and those who have borrowed beyond their means.

PasturesNew

clutton wrote: »

""Private renting's a dirty, dirty, expensive business ""

not necessarily - i am a private LL and charge £50 per applicant for all fees - thats not expensive, its certainly not dirty............

i do take exception to such wide generalisations

It's a dirty, dirty business from a tenant's perspective because it's so hard to find anywhere, so difficult to find private landlords, so difficult to get viewings, so many scams on gumtree, so many fees, you're never sure what's happening ... it's a dirty, dirty business ... unless somebody happens to find a good private landlord pretty quickly.

The biggest headache is finding properties/details. So many hundreds of places you look, only to find there's nothing there, or there are no details beyond the price.

I am half looking to move again and just can't find any good site to find/search for properties easily.

There's certainly a gap there ... even Rightmove's a nightmare.

Morglin

peterpan12 wrote: »

I am currently trying to help my dad find a property to rent but he is claiming Housing Benefit, so it seems to be a problem.

He has been renting from a family friend for the past 5 years and from a private landlord before that, but his current landlord has just died and the property is to be sold.

He does not have a deposit to get back as this was from a friend and never required one, is there any help from council in getting a deposit or will I need to find this for him?

How do I go about finding a property to rent, in the past I have always seen no DSS and for obvious reasons he will not do well on credit-checks (although he does not owe any money or have any defaults, he also doesn't earn any money as he is on Dis Benefits and Pension Credits.

My Dad is a very proud man and will not admit that he is in a spot of bother, and keeps telling me that he has everything in hand, but I know he doesnt and needs to find somewhere. He does have about 4 months on his side but any advice would be great.

Oh he also has a very small and well behaved Dog, he has had this for years and could not bear to be without the dog, she is his flat mate and best friend!

The advice i need is.............
1. How can you get around the 1 months advanced rent and deposit?
2. Renting with a small dog
3. Finding a property without using letting agents (as they dont seem interested in HB clients)

He has a track record of always paying his rent on time, 75% is paid direct to the landlord and the other is paid by me as a standing order ( as i dont want him living in a horrible area so I top it up for him as HB doesnt pay enough).

Any help from Landlords or Agents would be great.

Thanks

I would contact his local council housing department first, as your post suggests he is over pension age and disabled in some way.

Most councils do treat this group as priority for housing, and it may be that they can offer him somewhere to live, or refer him to a Housing Association in the area.

This option will probably be better, and will certainly be cheaper.

For what it's worth, when we briefly explored the possibility of renting privately, letting agents and landlords were not bothered at all that we were on pensions and disability benefits - for some reason, they didn't count them as 'DSS' - or perhaps it was just they were desperate to let their properties at the time.

Lin

theartfullodger

I would contact his local council housing department first, as your post suggests he is over pension age and disabled in some way.

Agreed:

Many councils/housing associations have housing specifically zoned for over 50's, 60's , 65's etc.. and very often (but not always..) there is some spare property or a short waiting list. Definitely worth a try: Ensure the council understand the full circumstances and why Dad should perhaps be classified by the housing system as "vulnerable" (eg disabled, - there are many other reasons). This does not mean he will regard himself as vulnerable...Ensure he (& anyone else who might need rented property) is on the housing waiting list... Re vulnerability etc. the council has to publish their housing allocation policy: Ask for a copy before applying and you might find something in the (usually large, boring & badly written) document that helps Dad's case....when he does apply. If you know a local council (look 'em up..) see if they are sympathetic...

Hope it works out...

Cheers!

Lodger

(PS "Private renting's a dirty, dirty, expensive business" - yes, of course it is, and of course most people think it is: For the record I charge tenants no fees... )

clutton_2

shame on your artful - why are you, a LL, continuing to demonise our profession ?

You know as well as i do that the number of poor landlords is a small percentage of the millions of excellent landlords available in this country - its just that "good" stories dont get publicity

Fire_Fox

clutton wrote: »

shame on your artful - why are you, a LL, continuing to demonise our profession ?

You know as well as i do that the number of poor landlords is a small percentage of the millions of excellent landlords available in this country - its just that "good" stories dont get publicity

Part of the problem could be that many of the good landlord's employ sh*t letting agents and then both parties get tarred with the same brush.

LittleMissAspie

I'm currently compiling a list of letting agents to avoid for their excessively high fees, I think we will be left with about 2 to chose from. I have no idea how to find private landlords, there doesn't seem to be any round here.

Also I emailed about 4 agents last week asking for their tenant fees schedule and not a single one has replied! Sorry gone off topic.