Housing Benefits - Feel discriminated??

Googlewhacker

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.

Some are single mothers who just don't give a toss though either to be fair....

Tigsteroonie

DaisyFlower wrote: »

If you fail to disclose it and the landlords insurance forbids tennants of this nature what happend when there is a fire and the property badly damaged? I actually cant believe anybody who works in HB would advise people to not disclose it.

Does the L/L have any obligation to advise tenants if he has taken out such insurance (that doesn't cover if the tenant is on HB)?

We were not on HB when we took out the tenancy. Due to circumstances, we went onto HB for a while. We didn't advise the L/L, and did not permit the Council to do so either. I consider that being on HB was our personal circumstances and, so long as we paid our rent, not for anybody else to know. Now we are off HB again as I am working.

But how would I know whether I should have informed the L/L? There is nothing in our tenancy agreement to say "If you claim HB/LHA you must inform me". It didn't occur to me at the time that it might invalidate his insurance - I don't even know what L/L insurance is, what terms and restrictions it contains, etc.

Needhelpsaving

Jules1976 wrote: »

b) that landlords can refuse point blank, in my case, the "ideal tenant" who will pay on time every time, won't trash their property and is a decent, hard working person.

I think it's the minority again making the majority suffer. In fairness, the landlords have probably come across people who say that they will pay etc in the past, yet don't (not that i'm saying you wouldn't pay), but with the things you see on tv about the way houses have been left, copper piping from central heating being stripped out and sold etc it's easy to understand why they are sceptical.

It's aways the few morons that ruin it for everyone else.

clb776

I am in a similar situation, I don't get much housing benefit because I do work (about 20% of the lha), I have a 'guarantor' but still can't find anywhere!!! I currently rent a property who I never told I would be claiming housing benefit, got it ok, but trying to find somewhere else is ridiculous!!! I am in a situation at the moment, I cannot afford my rent, handed in my notice and have no where to go! Instead me and my one year old are going to stay with a friend and my husband in a 'shared house' until such time that we find somewhere. If I stayed here I would have got into rent arrears therefore ruining a reference if needed and I felt this would make it even harder!!!

It is discrimination as all those who 'claim' are tarred with a sticky brush, it won't ever change, if I am ever in a position to rent a home I will listen to the reasons for claiming and decide then.

Imagine if an advert said 'White people only' or 'no disabled people' can you imagine!!!

margaretejenkins

Hi all, I have read this post with interest. As a retired ARLA letting agent, I have also been both a landlord and tenant and due to poor health am now having to claim LHA so can see these issues from all sides. Our experience over the years has shown that good and bad tenants come from all sections of the community, one of our best tenants EVER was on HB for over 10 years, and one of the worst was employed with a good income. You can't really put people into 'pigeon holes'. In answer to those who ask if HB should be declared then if it is not and the applicant goes through an agency it is unlikely that they will pass referencing simply on grounds of 'insufficient income'. The referencing companies (and they all work in more or less the same way) use a multiplier of income to work out whether the rent is actually affordable and if it is not then the applicant will fail. Hope this helps to clear up this issue.

It is a sad fact of life that in most areas there are more prospective tenants than decent properties so landlords/agents have a choice and are more likely to choose someone who is working with a good income than someone who may be claiming benefits especially when the HB does not cover the rent and it can be hard to see where the top up is coming from. The local councils do tend to operate within the restrictions that are placed on them by the 'rules' and as can sometime happen, a claim is put on hold for a number of reasons including a change of circumstances. It is not unknown for a claim to be put on hold for weeks or even months and in the meantime most landlords have to pay the mortgage. (Contrary to popular belief most landlords are not rich fat cats waiting for the money to roll in, most of them have mortgages to pay).

Hope this all helps

twinkle1981_2

Googlewhacker wrote: »

Some are single mothers who just don't give a toss though either to be fair....

Yes just as there are tenants who are working and paying their own rent who don't give a toss.

I have just found myself in the situation of having to claim HB as a result of redundancy, but thank goodness I have a local housing association flat and they don't discriminate. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack to get a private let here that accepts HB tenants.

seven-day-weekend

Another reason why Landlords are wary of taking Benefit claimants is that if the tenant has claimed HB fraudulently, then it is recoverable from the Landlord, not the tenant, even though the tenant may not actually have used the money to pay the rent.:eek:

twinkle1981_2

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Another reason why Landlords are wary of taking Benefit claimants is that if the tenant has claimed HB fraudulently, then it is recoverable from the Landlord, not the tenant, even though the tenant may not actually have used the money to pay the rent.:eek:

Gosh that seems very harsh! :eek:

Jowo_2

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Another reason why Landlords are wary of taking Benefit claimants is that if the tenant has claimed HB fraudulently, then it is recoverable from the Landlord, not the tenant, even though the tenant may not actually have used the money to pay the rent.:eek:

But only when the landlord receives the rent directly from the local authority which was common under HB and is less common under LHA.

But that is a really good point that there is a double risk faced by a landlord - if the tenant receives the rent directly, they may be tempted to spend it on things other than the rent, but if the landlord receives the rent directly, it is the landlord who must re-imburse the local authority if the tenant submits a false claim for HB.

pandaspot

No, any op created by a fraudulent claim and the landlord is paid direct the hb dept decide whether the landlord could reasonably have known of any error.

If for example the claimant left the property and hb was still being paid then we would expect the landlord to have known and the overpayment would be recoverable from them. If the claimants income was wrong and this caused an op then the landlord would not have know and the op would be recoverable from the tenant.