Housing Benefits - Feel discriminated??

Jowo_2

BodyElectric wrote: »

Don't LL's have to give 3 months notice to quit to anyone in receipt of HB? Well any benefits really.

No - benefit claimants do not get a different notice period to those in employment!

The length of the notice period depends on the type of tenancy, the grounds used (if the notice is fault based) and if the property is in England or Scotland, for example.

How somebody pays is absolutely no influence - someone on state benefits does not get any extra time!

LadyMorticia

It's a shame that some people on HB trash properties like that. They give genuine people who respect property and pay on time a bad name.

I used to claim HB and the LL was always paid on time and I respected the property I was in. I believe that property should be treated how we would want ours to be treated. Everything was always clean and tidy and I never had problems paying rent. It's a shame that people on HB who don't respect property give us that do a bad name.

Macro_3

People on benefits are a higher risk than working tenants.

By definition they are on a low, fixed income and are therefore less easily able to budget and absorb unexpected expenses via their disposable income.

Rent arrears amongst HB claimants are surprisingly common, particularly persistent low level arrears - and once someone on HB gets into arrears is it a very long slog getting back out again.

There are a proportion of people on benefit who seem, not necessarily unable to manage their financial affairs, but almost indifferent to doing so. It's very common as an assessor to have to create an overpayment, suspend a claim or cancel someone's claim completely knowing that they will be left in significant arrears because you have written numerous letters and made phone calls trying to get proof of something or other and it's not been provided.

The knock-on effect of that is that some landlords spend a great deal of time chasing claims and nannying their tenants to ensure that the above does not happen.


A working tenant will generally have more disposable income with which to absorb expenses and pay for damage, will be more likely to be able to pay deposits/rent up front, will probably be able to show some evidence of their reliability (for example, someone who has maintained stable long-term employment may appear to a landlord to be more likely to be a reliable tenant than someone who is having to claim benefit and is more of an unknown quantity)

laurawatson28

ive just filled my forms and my hb office only pay the tenant unless im in arrears (which im not) or have a disability (which i havent) hb benefit in nottingham is currently paid every lunar month (every 4 weeks) so be fair if it was paid to my landlord then surely he would be getting 'extra' rent just because im on a low income.
we are good tenants been in the same house for nearly 5 years always paid on time and its only recently that we have applied for hb due to my partner being unemployed, whether the hb pays my rent or i do from my wages ive always paid on time and always will do whatever my circumstances are.
its the first bill on my list every month

Jowo_2

laurawatson28 wrote: »

... hb benefit in nottingham is currently paid every lunar month (every 4 weeks) so be fair if it was paid to my landlord then surely he would be getting 'extra' rent just because im on a low income.

......eh?!

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

I've been privately renting for 5 years now & have never paid my rent late let alone missed a payment.

The problem is people sterotypically think of benefit claimants like the people on Shameless when in fact there can be many reasons other than lazyness why people don't work.

Some are single mothers that relationships have broken down or are ill/disabled, in my case i'm both but that doesn't make me an unreliable or untrustworthy person.

twinkle1981_2

Breast_Cancer_Survivor wrote: »

I've been privately renting for 5 years now & have never paid my rent late let alone missed a payment.

The problem is people sterotypically think of benefit claimants like the people on Shameless when in fact there can be many reasons other than lazyness why people don't work.

Some are single mothers that relationships have broken down or are ill/disabled, in my case i'm both but that doesn't make me an unreliable or untrustworthy person.

Well said BCS :T

zagfles

Breast_Cancer_Survivor wrote: »

I've been privately renting for 5 years now & have never paid my rent late let alone missed a payment.

The problem is people sterotypically think of benefit claimants like the people on Shameless when in fact there can be many reasons other than lazyness why people don't work.

Some are single mothers that relationships have broken down or are ill/disabled, in my case i'm both but that doesn't make me an unreliable or untrustworthy person.

But the problem is that because benefit claimants are more likely to cause problems, and landlords don't have common sense rights to their own property once let out, they have to make judgements about potential tenants before getting to know them, and using criteria like whether they're on benefits or not is one of them. It means they will stereotype, like it or not.

Imagine if you walked out of Tesco with a trolley full of food without paying, and tried using an excuse that your benefits hadn't come through so you couldn't afford to pay for your shopping this month. You'd be arrested. But if you do the same with your landlord, not only will the police not be interested, but the landlord will be forced to let you carry on living there until he's gone through a long costly legal process!

If landlords could call the police and get tenants arrested for "stealing" accomodation in the same way as Tesco could if you steal food, then landlords wouldn't have a problem renting to benefit claimants. There would be no risk.

But because of so called "tenants rights", benefit claimants have difficulty finding somewhere to rent, and good tenants suffer because of the actions of bad ones.

LadyMorticia

I've found that there are a few properties on Gumtree that accept DSS - more properties on there that do than sites like Rightmove, in my opinion.

Need to be careful though as I've heard of a few scams on there.

sammyjammy

Breast_Cancer_Survivor wrote: »

I've been privately renting for 5 years now & have never paid my rent late let alone missed a payment.

The problem is people sterotypically think of benefit claimants like the people on Shameless when in fact there can be many reasons other than lazyness why people don't work.

Some are single mothers that relationships have broken down or are ill/disabled, in my case i'm both but that doesn't make me an unreliable or untrustworthy person.

But its not about stereotyping its about laws of probability, kind of works like insurance, its more expensive for men than women. Its hard luck but its life nad we have to live with it, landlords are running a business.