No Dss what does mean?

frisbee

After a relationship breakdown I am looking to rent a house for me and my daughter, I have seen in an advert NO DSS, I work part time, and in a position to possibly pay 3 months rent in advance, but i will be claiming housing benefit, does NO DSS mean they won't consider you if your not working , or if you are claiming housing benefit. Also what other costs should i expect apart from 1 months rent and a deposit.
Thanks in advance.

Browntoa

i would assume they don't want anyone on any kind of benefit

xyellowx

yes they may not consider you, phone up and ask 3 months rent in advance may change there mind, you will also be asked to provide referances and they may ask for insurance to be paid in full (although i only rent a commercial property so may be different for a house)

lurkerlurk

It also means that they might be stuck in the 1980's when the DSS existed.

BitterAndTwisted

Nearly all Local Authorities now pay LHA (Local Housing Allowance) rather than Housing Benefit and LHA is paid direct to the tenant rather than the landlord, so if you are in receipt of it the landlord doesn't necessarily need to know. You can check on your LA's website to see what their weekly maximum LHA rate is for those who qualify. Please note that it is not likely that you will receive LHA for a three-bed property if your family is just one adult and one child. You might not qualify for the three-bed rate even if you had two children.

I believe that in order to apply for LHA you will need to show a copy of your tenancy agreement

tracey12_2

Your landlord does not need to know as the money is paid directly into your bank account and the local council does not tell the landlord that you are getting LHA.

If you look on your local council website it will give you an indication of how much money per month you would be entitled to. My friend has 2 girls aged 4 and 2 and she only gets the allowance for a 2 bed house as the girls could technically share a bedroom. The rest of the rent would have to be made up by the tenant, hope that helps.

Jowo_2

tracey12 wrote: »

Your landlord does not need to know as the money is paid directly into your bank account and the local council does not tell the landlord that you are getting LHA.

.

The majority of landlords will ask a tenant to complete a tenancy application form where it seeks info on their income and their employers contact details so they can take up an employment reference. Therefore, the majority of landlords will detect that a tenant intends to claim LHA through their screening process, just because they can't provide an employers reference or because if they are in employment, they clearly don't earn enough to cover the full rent and its obvious they need benefits to cover their living expenses.

debby1c

I had to private rent after divorce with two teens. My letting agents would not accept my application until I was in full time employment. If you are in receipt of income from a partner or have a divorce document showing maintenance this is taken as income. I work full time and my last homelet check actually stated I didn't earn enough to pay the rent and associated bills. Once my maintenance and tax credits were taken into account, I just scraped in.
Even then, you will need a guarantor, a person who promises to pay your rent if you can't because your wages are so low and you are a first time renter.
I am also in receipt of LHA and it is paid monthly into my bank account.
You will also have to pay an admin fee, around here its £75 but can rise to £150 with my latest agent. But they're greedy. Make sure you know all the charges, ask in advance. Some charge a renewal fee, a check out fee at the end of the tenancy. Avoid these type of fees and go elsewhere IMHO.
Hope that helps
D

puddy

you may baulk at this suggestion, but have you thought of renting a very large en suite room with shared kitchen facilities? how old is your daughter? the reason i say this is that my partners kids all needed rental accommodation but might need benefits, so going via a letting agent was a no go due to costs of credit checks, needing references and possibly guarantors, not least of all the cost of some of the self contained accommodation.
you are more likely to find people that rent rooms are direct, not via an agent and more likely to take benefits and will obvioiusly be cheaper with less deposit needed. as its also cheaper, your months rent up front will be less.

it may not be suitable for you long term, but theres also no minimum term, so if you then find you're finances are better after 4 months, then off you go.