Dss tenants yes/no your stories good/bad

mel19632

We currently have a family on full benefits in one of our houses. They however on the OLD housing benefit - so all of the money is paid directly to us. We do not have any experience with the new LHA.

I have to say they are perfect tenants - house is always immaculate and they like to improve the house (i.e. painting etc) when they have spare money.

Not all DSS are awful (but i'm sure you are aware of that). Just be careful who you choose.

clutton_2

you cannot lump all DSS folks into one basket - i have several single parent mums who are great, (two have ripped me off in 10 years) - i have long term sick tenants on DLA who are fabulous and who qualify for free disabled improvement to the property - i have a couple of pensioners... all great tenants

treat each applicant on their own merits - but do all the credit checks, verifications, referencing you can - if you gut instince is saying no then listen to it and say no....

a bad tenant can cost you thousands - as opposed to having a void for another couple of months whilst waiting for the right tenant

olgadapolga

C_Mababejive wrote: »

If a BTL landlord inflicted scummy neighbours on me . . .

We had scummy neighbours inflicted on us . . . by our old neighbour SELLING his house to them. They have made our lives hell since they moved in, with any and all manner of problems from noise to destruction to rats, the former two usually as a result of drunkeness, the latter as a result of the disgsting manner in which their chickens are kept. So "scummy neighbours" aren't necessarily always those that rent/are on benefits.

mandi

Im a single parent and recieve HB . Im a good tennant, & have rented the house i'm in for 11 years .

I have recently redecorated right through . Pay my rent on time , and consider my neighbours . Unfortunately my LL is next to hopless , so it can work both ways .

property.advert

I think landlords choose bad tenants because they are so desperate to get someone in their property. There are good tenants out there but many landlords are under capitalised and need to get the most cash in rather than looking at it from a longer time perspective. The fact that the LHA is way higher than market rents in some places skews desirability to the benefits recipients.

Thrugelmir

Friends of mine have a number of properties which they let.

Tales of woe and hassle originate whatever the type of tenant.

As peoples circumstances change very rapidly.

Really its down to proper vetting and interviewing of prospective tenants that matters. Too often in desperation to let property in a hurry, Landlords aren't always as thorough as they should be.

C_Mababejive

clutton wrote: »

you cannot lump all DSS folks into one basket - i have several single parent mums who are great, (two have ripped me off in 10 years) - i have long term sick tenants on DLA who are fabulous and who qualify for free disabled improvement to the property - i have a couple of pensioners... all great tenants

treat each applicant on their own merits - but do all the credit checks, verifications, referencing you can - if you gut instince is saying no then listen to it and say no....

a bad tenant can cost you thousands - as opposed to having a void for another couple of months whilst waiting for the right tenant

Yes..people on DLA/Pensioner tenants are great. Just get them in and get them signed up to warm front et voilà...landlord gets new central heating system courtesy of Joe taxpayer..free of charge..:rolleyes:

michellen34

Same here Mandi i'm a SP too and my LL has had bad tenants for the last ten years, I've been here nearly 3 years i was on full HB and on part HB now as i'm working and my LL does nothing not even the required checks, so i'm with you on this one. There are bad LL out there too

real1314

C_Mababejive wrote: »

If a BTL landlord inflicted scummy neighbours on me then i would find out where he lived and make his life hell.

A lot of people wouldn't want to live next to the sort of "scummy neighbour" who thinks that threats of violence/harrassment are acceptable.

A tad hypocritical?

I don't think that working or living on benefits changes the core values of a person; plenty of working people have violent/abusive/anti-social tendencies; plenty of benefit claimants have strong moral values.

Emy1501

Done it once would not do it again. The money is paid to the tenant who then pays you. If they stop paying then its problems to find out what is going on and if the HA will start paying again. Also if you want them to leave and they then want council housing etc they will be told to stay until they are evicted which can take months.

If you do it make sure they have a guarantee who you can sue if they do not pay up. That was the only way we could make sure we got the money back.