Tenant on Housing Benefit

terryw

Sue

You are so right in much of what you say, but to start thinking about the morality of HB being paid to the tenant and spent on other items is the route to madness! All that you can do is work within the system - the tenant obviously knows it better than you at the moment. Learn from this and sooner or later when you are rid of this tenant be sure not to make the same mistakes. Many many landlords have been treat in the same way as you, and this is why so many LLs and LAs specify "No DHSS" or similar.

You realize now that you can't rely on rent being paid and it is necessary to have a cash back-up to cover this. LLs with several properties can weather poor cashflow better.

bw

skintsue

Thanks to everyone who has given constructive advice, I should have come here first, instead of relying on the 'pro's'. You make a lot more sense.

I am writing to the Mortgage company to explain the situation, and will ASK for their PERMISSION to continue renting the house out, and if not I will put it on the market sooner than planned. What the tenant will make of it I don't know, but if she kicks off I will point her in their direction.

The only comments I will make about magnolia paint is that it undoubtably Neutral - which it why it is the choice of showhouse decorators.
Bland, inoffensive, goes with most other colours, and makes the rooms seem bigger and lighter, also more forgiving than white.
There were interesting colours in each room when it was up for sale, but when it was on the rental market the agents couldn't stress strongly enough that in an unfurnished property 'subtle' - their word, was preferable to 'noticable'.

The logic was that if I had purple walls, or green carpet, which I didn't, and the tenants hated either colour, then they wouldn't want to live in a house with those shades for 12 months. Also if they were bringing in a red sofa, or had orange curtains etc. they might be put off.
It would eliminate a number of potential tenants, whereas bland neutral magnolia, while not being the exciting sexiest colour in the spectrum was the least likely to clash or overpower with their stuff.
By the same token, giving them the freedom to stamp their personality on the house while they were there, was suggested to be a good thing, but again when they leave they take that with them, and the next set of tenants take over. By returning it to neutral the next tenants don't have to be forced to live with something they might hate either. I don't see that as being some sort of negative.

Also giving them permission to put cable for TV etc in the bedrooms - I never had one in the bedroom, but to some people it is as essential as breathing. I was fine with them installing it, but when they left if they took the cabling they had paid for with them, I would expect there not to be holes in the wall where it had been.

Soniclord - I do love your attitude, I'm sure you feel you are in the right with your comments. Don't we all think that whenever we express our opinions, which may or may not be the same as other peoples.
Did you really have to state them in such a way that the only image I could get in my head is one from when my daughter was nearly 3 years old with her eyes screwed tight shut, fingers in her ears screaming at the top of her voice "I'm not listening to you NYAH, NYAH, NYAH, YAH, HA!!!"

clutton_2

sue - in stead of debating morality - have you prepared a spread sheet ? joined national landlords association ? Stop feeling sorry for yourself and take some actoin - you will feel a lot better for it

If your agent is such rubbish then it will be up to you to get the tenant out ... so get reading gal NLA website is a mine of useful info !!

Even tho you have little money joining NLA will be the best £90 you will ever spend.. judges throw out poorly presented possession requests every day of teh week.. you need professional help if your agent is no good.

have you read your agency agreement ? does it cover eviction ? (they rarely do)

jamie11

OP you indicated earlier that the tenant might be up to something naughty.
Nobody seems to have mentioned ground 14 of S8. Here it is

• Ground 14: that the tenant or someone living in or visiting the property has been guilty of conduct which is, or is likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance to neighbours. Or that a person residing or visiting the dwelling house has been convicted of using the property, or allowing it to be used, for immoral or illegal purposes or has committed an arrestable offence in, or in the locality of, the dwelling house.

It does not matter if she has not been arrested, just that it is an arrestable offence.

The point with G14 is that you can issue it and immediately apply for a court hearing for possession, and of course you can also add to the same notice any other grounds you have, so if there is 2 months worth of rent unpaid at the time of issue you can put that on the same notice, as well as g's 10 and 11. g8 of course is mandatory providing the 2 months is unpaid at the time of issue and at the time of the court hearing.

The criteria is that rent is normally paid in advance, your contract almost certainly specifies that, so if your tenant has missed a payment one the due date, and then misses the next payment on the due date, then that is 2 months owed (because it's due in advance)

If that's not what you want to do, there has been a recent change in the ability of landlords to get the rent paid direct, you can now speak to the council about late payment as soon as the rent is even one day late, it is their discretion to pay it to you but if you persist you will win through.

It's a good idea to make a point of contact within the council housing department and always try to speak to your contact, make friends with them if you can and always sound reasonable but firm.

You do not have to pay a solicitor to issue a S8 or a S21, both are very easy to do.

You can have as much advice as you need either here or other forums.

I hope this has helped. Good luck.

skintsue

clutton wrote: »

sue - in stead of debating morality - have you prepared a spread sheet ? joined national landlords association ? Stop feeling sorry for yourself and take some actoin - you will feel a lot better for it

If your agent is such rubbish then it will be up to you to get the tenant out ... so get reading gal NLA website is a mine of useful info !!

Even tho you have little money joining NLA will be the best £90 you will ever spend.. judges throw out poorly presented possession requests every day of teh week.. you need professional help if your agent is no good.

have you read your agency agreement ? does it cover eviction ? (they rarely do)

Hi Clutton, Honestly I don't feel sorry for myself now, just furious that I let myself be taken in by her, and that the LA are basically buck passing to everyone else, including me.
I think I have chucked the cat amongst the pigeons now with telling them I hadn't got permission from the Mortgage lender to rent out. If it does go to Court will a Judge ask how it slipped through the net? They are probably going to be a bit more forceful with her now there might be questions about their vetting procedures, and screening of landlords right to let.

I am not computer savvy, only just learnt how to send a photo in an e-mail, so I am doing the spread sheet longhand, then will get my pre-teen daughter to show me how to do it on the computer. It will take longer, but I am onto it and thankfully there aren't many rental receipts to go though.

Registering with the NLA is next on the list. Just need to check that all automatic payments I have are now out before I pay out any more.

Jamie11 - THANKYOU, THANKYOU! My tenant is certainly up to something naughty. This ground 14 might be just what I need to push the situation back in my favour. I'm surprised that the LA didn't suggest it, as they are fully aware of everything she is getting up to.

It seems I have a lot more reading up to do, and burning the midnight oil. I'll check the ground 14 and the NLA website as soon as I've made a strong coffee. I think I'll need the Hot Java Lava at this rate.

Thanks again all you wonderful MSE's.:kisses3:

Hump

Before you write to the mortgage company consider this (others will have different experiences). I was advising a tenant whose landlord had failed to pay the mortgage, the bailiffs were a week or so away (he had received a letter addressed to the occupier) I assisted the tenant in contacting the mortgage lender with a copy of his tenancy agreement so as to get the tenant a further 2 months residence (Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010). The landlord applied for a warrant suspension and had the warrant suspended on terms i.e. to pay the mortgage plus a bit off the arrears.

I later found out that the landlord had not obtained permission to rent the property, her mortgage interest rate was increased to reflect the lender's 'buy to let product' - and worse - it was backdated to the date the tenancy had commenced (about 3 years) - the amount she owed the mortgage lender increased considerably. The landlord was furious.

Now you sound skint at present and the likelihood of the mortgage company finding out about your breach of your mortgage agreement is pretty slim, you might want to consider waiting..... - and I'm posting this fully realising that some strong opinions have already been expressed- I would, as others have said, focus in on the immediate problem which is a tenant who is not paying her rent.

cashbackproblems

my dad has btl's and would never rent to housing benefit people, most are lower class people and dont look after the property.

clutton_2

"" think I have chucked the cat amongst the pigeons now with telling them I hadn't got permission from the Mortgage lender to rent out. If it does go to Court will a Judge ask how it slipped through the net? They are probably going to be a bit more forceful with her now there might be questions about their vetting procedures, and screening of landlords right to let.""

forget about consent to let for the time being - focus on getting this tenant out first. Gaining possession has nothing to do with whether you have consent to let or not - don't even mention it during the possession hearing.

Well done on starting the spreadsheets.... have you read you agency agreement with the letting agency.. what does it say about chasing arrears and the eviction processes ? Are they going to do it ? or will they charge you the earth for doing it as an "extra"

Emmylou_2

A silly point that's probably already been covered (insomnia on return from holiday is not fun!), but have you protected any deposit with one of the approved schemes? If not - do so NOW and send T the "prescribed information".

You cannot serve a section 21 notice without having done both.

jamie11

cashbackproblems wrote: »

my dad has btl's and would never rent to housing benefit people, most are lower class people and dont look after the property.

Oh! Dear, I think you need to go and wash your preconceptions.

Most of us are going to be classed as 'poor' at some time in our lives, and then climb out of that as our kids grow up and we become more affluent, some are capable, some are not. To just lump all claimants as 'lower class' is breathtakingly ignorant.