Tenant on Housing Benefit

skintsue

robpw2 wrote: »

not everyone on benefits is like that :mad:

Totally agree. I've got some great friends who are on benefits, they probably look after their rented properties better than some people who are buying their homes on a mortgage.

I refuse to generalise on any group by definition of race, creed, colour, nationality, social status, income, marital status etc.
There are good and bad in every situation. It just so happens that I appear to have come off worst from someone who happens to be on benefits who knows how to work the system, and a LA who is either unaware of,or deliberately avoiding their legal obligations, the clauses in their own contract, or their industry's Code of Conduct, and now trying to dig themselves out of the doo-doo by being evasive, stonewalling and have, once or twice, been intimidating, to try and make me go away.

skintsue

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

What avenue have you explored about the agent escorting this bint to that other property? The one that has an acquaintance as a neighbour?

My friend is keeping a look out for the LL if he goes round to the house when he is at home.
He is going to tell LL what has gone on, and ask him for his phone number to pass onto me.
He does not want to leave a note through the door incase the LA sees it, and disposes of it.

Judging by the report back from my friend, the luckily escaped potential LL, was in a right rage with the LA bloke who escorted her, especially as he went into a strop because LL refused to take her on.
He went so far as to smash up the To Let sign outside his house.
Lucky that was all that was smashed!

BitterAndTwisted

He went into a strop for the mark-up on the "referencing fees" and commission on the rent collected? Is she in league with the agent to put local landlords out of business or something?

skintsue

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

He went into a strop for the mark-up on the "referencing fees" and commission on the rent collected? Is she in league with the agent to put local landlords out of business or something?

He went into a strop because the PLL (Potential Land Lord) was experienced enough to smell something fishy.
The LA was trying too hard to push her in immediately - between Christmas and New Year, which got his spider senses tingling.
If she was already in rented as a single mum on HB, why did she need to move so fast, surely she would have know when the current tenancy was up, and been looking sooner.
He felt the house was too small for her and 5 young children.
He was very dubious about the reference she was providing - it felt wrong. I presume he meant what was in it, not the material used.
He also wasn't comfortable with the potential guarantor's details.

As I've been told - some experience in being a LL, so knew what to look for, unlike me, who never even met her, or saw the paperwork until it was way too late, so wouldn't know what to look for.

Having seen her now - well at least a photo - there is NO WAY she would even have got through the door.
Probably why the LA said there was no need for me to bother being there.
I thought it was them being considerate because I'd have problems getting there for the viewing as I can't drive any more due to my mobility problems.
In hindsight it was probably because they knew what my reaction would be if I clapped eyes on her.
I know, in my last post but one I said I didn't generalise, and I usually feel people should be judged by what they are, over what they look like, but to quote Groucho Marx "In her case I'll make an exception".:p

BitterAndTwisted

Sue, I'm probably the most cynical and wary person I know but I cannot think of anything other than the commission on rent for an agent to be pushing a patently dishonest and utterly unreliable POS tenant onto any landlord they can find who would be gullible enough to take her. One has to ask oneself what could possibly be the point? Commissions aren't that generous to risk alienating long-standing landlords by completely destroying relationship after relationship.

She must have really profound blackmail material on them......

Oh, and was she some foul Waynetta clone or what?

skintsue

tbs624 wrote: »

Skintsue - do try to have a chat with the Council's private sector tenancy relations officer about the "abandonment" of the property. It shows you to be diligent LL who wants to deal with the issue appropriately.

The LA is clearly not going to be of help with pursuing the T for monies owed and legally regaining possession at the earliest possible opportunity.

Thanks for the info. I rang, left a message on the machine, and the guy rang back very promptly.
He was a delight to talk to - gave me sympathy, and good advice, in equal measures (a bit like MSE forum members).
I've got more ringing round and e-mailing to various bodies to do (no ironing getting done again today, shame ), but they should be able to put pressure on the LA from on high. Won't be able to fob theses guys off with dubious shenanigans.

IF, and that's a very IF, I go into renting this house out again because we still can't sell it,( I can hear the screams of NOOOOOO from some of you from here) then they might be a better option than this LA shower I have now.
They do a very in depth reference and g'tor details, while they don't do a management rental, all their clients HAVE to agree to the rent being paid directly to the LL, no S/O - no Property, and they are onto them if there are any problems.

I've since found out that several of my friends do BTL rentals, some manage them on their own, the others use a lady from this village to manage them. She quit the LA she was with in disgust at their working practices 5 or so years ago, and now has a good reputation with these owners for being on the ball, very thorough, and watching out for her clients.
I've met her, like her, and the advice she gave me for the price of a cup of tea, was worth a hundredfold what I'd been given by the other lot.
Because she is from the village she has a reputation to uphold, and most of her work has come from referal rather than advertising, so I might ask her for some pointers in the future.

I KNOW, I KNOW, Just thinking aloud!
I'm going to become Badger Lady 2 taking on everyone's problems.
I'm hoping if I do risk it again I get a Joanne Lodger this time.
But she would complain about me!!:D
I admit I'm a B L Lurker too.

BitterAndTwisted

skintsue wrote: »

IF, and that's a very IF, I go into renting this house out again because we still can't sell it,( I can hear the screams of NOOOOOO from some of you from here) then they might be a better option than this LA shower I have now.
They do a very in depth reference and g'tor details, while they don't do a management rental, all their clients HAVE to agree to the rent being paid directly to the LL, no S/O - no Property, and they are onto them if there are any problems.

NO! Please don't do that. You've had quite enough trouble already and it's not even resolved yet. This is a bad idea whichever way round you look at it. Please reconsider

skintsue

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Sue, I'm probably the most cynical and wary person I know but I cannot think of anything other than the commission on rent for an agent to be pushing a patently dishonest and utterly unreliable POS tenant onto any landlord they can find who would be gullible enough to take her. One has to ask oneself what could possibly be the point? Commissions aren't that generous to risk alienating long-standing landlords by completely destroying relationship after relationship.

She must have really profound blackmail material on them......

Oh, and was she some foul Waynetta clone or what?

It's the newby LL's that are probably targeted first. They wouldn't know what to look out for.
This guy was only on the ball because my friend had seen him a few weeks before when he saw the sign going up, and told him what problems I'd been having with my tenant. He must have put 2 + 2 together, which is why he refused to take her.

I'd be interested to see the figures on how many of the LA's clients, the LL side of them, give them repeat business. Or do they just dump them as soon as the initial tenancy is over.

Waynetta clone? She was much classier than this one.

She must hang around the pub next door to Specsavers at closing time to catch blokes who have popped in while waiting to have their glasses repaired.
Either that or she carries around TWO paper bags, just in case one of them rips. MEOWWW.

BitterAndTwisted

I've heard tarts like that carry around chloroform at night on the off-chance when their five kids are in bed. It can be the only answer. Meowww

skintsue

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

She must have really profound blackmail material on them......

Or maybe one of the 9 children she has (Yes, they didn't tell me that either, she told one of the neighbours after she had moved in) might possibly be the product of a liasion with a member of staff.

Not all of them lived there, but were known to visit en-masse with their various partners and offspring, to the delight of the neighbours.

I did describe it as something out of "Shameless" once.