renting privately

Fran

loopy_lass wrote:

what about getting another p/t jobs so you are full time (perhaps seasonal) so to speak, get a house, then drop to p/t again and tell your landlord one of the jobs fell through so u need to top up with HB..... ;-) worked for me

loops

As I tried to point out in my last post, there's no point in deceiving a landlord because if gleeb is out of work at any stage and tries to claim and it's delayed and he has no savings, he will be chucked out of his accommodation because of obtaining the tenancy under false pretences when the landlord has said "No DSS". Some landlords are totally ruthless - they might just chuck out someone's stuff and change the locks because of it. It's not worth the risk if you want a home to live in.

chugalug

Which of course Fran would be an illegal eviction!! In my experience the reality is a landlord doesnt care where the money comes from as long as you pay your rent. Yes you do have to provide proof that you are a tenant but a tenancy agreement will be sufficient. Some Local Authorities demand other proof and want the claimant to sign to say they can contact the landlord - this is not enforceable but part of the verification process. If you do not agree they cannot contact your landlord if you have proof that you are renting the property. If they insist still do not sign but get CAB or Shelter involved. This could all be academic anyway because if the OP is under 25, or is a single male with no specific 'problems' he is not likely to be entitled to HB (or not much anyway). The only way they can insist on paying HB direct to the landlord is if there are over 8 weeks arrears. The rules changed last year so that the default is payment directly to the claimant unless specific reason not to.

loopy_lass

what i was getting at was once you have been in a property and proved your good for the rent, its not your fault if a seasonal job ends (therefore its not under false pretences it is genuine circumstances, and the tennancy will prob be no dhss when taking on tenancy..... which you wouldnt be claiming).

Also, quite rightly ... an illegal eviction! if

silaslang

I was told by the housing benefit that I may be entitled to a little bit of help towards paying my rent(My rent is £80 and they said they could possible give me £10 towards it). I needed to provide them with the following:

The tenancy agreement
2 months bank statements
2 wage slips
My working tax awards letter (I havent recieved one yet)

They also award you an amount that is in relation to the other houses in your area. So if your neighbours are paying £70 rent but your landlord wants £80 they may only pay the £70, although this is not always the case.

Paul_Varjak

Landlords are in a 'catch 22' situation with anyone on Housing Benefit. If the tenant pays, the landlord may not get the money. If the tenant agrees that the Council may pay Housing Benefit direct, the landlord runs the risk that the Council will reclaim the benefit if the tenant has made a fraudulent claim.

But, I suppose, if the Landlord can see that the prospective tenant is only claiming partial Housing Beneift (less likely to be fraudulent) and the prospective tenant can also provide proof of hours worked and income etc. I guess the landlord will be more ameable.

Be up-front with your prospective landlord and I am sure it will pay dividends!

Savvy_Sue

gleeb wrote:

am not 'living' anywhere really.. stay at my sisters some nights, at parents occasionally too , and even back at home (despite the split, she let me sleep on the sofa)
I have already met with the housing advice centre a few weeks ago now .. where they allocated more points. It all takes so long to go through all the processes. very disheartening !

It is disheartening but I am glad you have had more points allocated because of your uncertain situation! It is worth going in on a regular basis, and keeping them up to date if anything changes, especially if your health deteriorates, which I hope it won't of course.

Also are there any local Housing Associations? If so it may be worth getting in touch with them, even if they run a 'common' lettings list with the council, because they MAY have properties they will let on a short-term basis. Or properties which they will not let out in the normal way but can let out. When I was working for a HA these were usually properties in difficult areas, or with difficult neighbours, etc.

shopaholic_ebayaddict

Hiya,

Well house rental is my expert topic!!!

When you claim housing benefit you send your tenancy agreement to them to prove you live there - they do not contact your landlord. you can have the HB paid straight to you and you then pay the landlord OR if you want to be honest with the landlord, arrange to have the HB paid direct to them and they will be pleased as the council is not gonna suddenly cancel/bounce a DD are they?

In the past we've had a nightmare renting as people have seen me as not working and having "only" my hubby's full time wage they have wanted to have a guarantor - just ask a nice family member to do this for you - they are just agreeing that should you default they can be contacted to cover the rent.

With regards to credit checking, i don't think they can do a credit search as such - it is one of those thingies that doesn't get recorded as a "search" on they £2.50 credit file BUT if you get an £8.50 one it will be mentioned on there BUT does not affect your rating. Most lettings agents do a bank reference where they say X has applied to rent a house for £X a month, can you confirm that he/she can afford it - the bank then look at your payments (loans etc) and how much goes thru your account and replies. If you can afford it and aren't going to tell your landlord about the HB it may be an idea to blag it by putting a bit more money thru your account for 3 months to show a higher income (either transfer money from another account then transfer straight back pay loads in some how!)

With regards to a deposit, our local council operate a rent in advance scheme. This is a great idea ALTHOUGH a lot of (snobby) lettings agents think its only scabbby scummers who will use this so don't like them (also they never physically get any cash from you as a deposit which they stick into a high interest account!) What they do it they inspect the property on the day you move in and check the inventory, take pictures and list and defects to the property - usually with you and the lettings agent present - on the day you move out, they repeat the process so if the lettings agent says "hey that carpets ruined we want £800" they can say "it was like that when they moved in" or whatever. As the agent doesn't have any money, they can't screw you! IF the council do end up paying £800 for a carpet,they pay and arrange repayments with you. Another reason Agents are wary of these schemes is they can't screw you over as the council officer knows the laws that you won't necessarily know!

With Rent in advance, they pay the 1months rent up front and then you have the duration of the tenancy to pay it back (so £400 up front for a 6month tenancy would set you back £66 a month). With both of these, you need to speak to the Health and housing officer at the council.

ONE MORE thing with regards to HB, they have a set criteria on what they will pay in each - phone your council and get the number of the rent officer and ring and ask the MAXIMUM rents they will pay (in my area its £550 for a 2 bed and £575 for 3 - totally unrealistic) but do bear in mind that these MAXIMUMS are only paid to people on income support and VERY rarely will they pay your full rent. Unfortunately you can't apply for HB until you get the house and so you don't know what you will get until you are comitted! With HB also, if you only need 2 beds, don't rent a 3 bed cos they will only pay the maximun based on what you need!!! (if you are paying £800 a month for a 4 bed and its just you and a kid they will only give you £550 max in my area).

hope that helps, good luck! I've found that most places once they meet you and see you aren't surrounded by a bubble of lard will rent to DSS but may ask for a guarantor or a slightly larger deposit.

chugalug

Just to clarify for OP. Housing Benefit is restricted in 2 ways 1) by maximum rent allowable for a given size property in a given area. This is the rent officers determination. Then 2) it is restricted by the size deemed appropriate for your household ie if under 25 single room rent, if couple one bed etc etc. Then once these restrictions are assessed you are means tested. This means your income is assessed and hb awarded based on how much you have coming in. This is why in an earlier post I said you may not get full hb even on pt work. Hope you find something soon. I suppose it depends on what part of the country youre from but good luck anyway.

shopaholic_ebayaddict

cheers for that clarification chugalug!! It was something i was trying to convey but my waffling got in the way!!!!

Fran

Shopa .....etc. etc. (!)

Even though you have made a great round up of your personal situation, some of the things are not necessarily true for gleeb.

You suggest "just ask a nice family member to do this for you" regarding being a guarantor. This is not as easy as it sounds because defaulting in rent can add up very quickly and people whether family or not will be very wary about doing this, even if they can afford to do it.

Re "putting more money through your account for 3 months" - how do you do that if you're only working 20 hours?! Also gleeb needs somewhere now.

That's a great tip about taking photos of the place before you move in. I was in student accommodation where the b******* landlord kept all of our deposits. This is one way to maybe avoid that by taking photos of any faults!


gleeb,

I stick with my original post and say go to Shelter and tap any resources in your area. Also do an internet search for your area to see what's available. Look in the local papers and in shop windows with notices and speak to people, tell everyone you see that you are looking.

The problem is that you haven't got a proper home at the moment and the extra points presumably have been given because you have been seen as homeless by your council. If private rented places ask how long you have lived at your present address (which you haven't got) what would you say?

Getting temporary jobs for x amount of months etc. is all very well if you live in an area of seasonal work, if you can get it to fit your present hours and if there are any vacancies.

I take the point from other posters about not necessarily needing the landlord to fill in a form, this obviously depends on the area you live and also I hadn't thought about it not being mandatory!

I didn't know the law had changed re H Ben and that it now has to be paid to the tenant. For what reasons do they make exceptions to this besides arrears?