landlords & tenants on HB

nat38

caringa wrote: »

We do take on tenants on HB and have had mixed experiences. We will only take them if they agree to instruct the local council to pay us direct. You do have to be aware that if the council decide to drop their payment, then the tenant will have to make up the shortfall, something that is quite often not possible.

I have heard mixed opinions about this. Some ppl seem to think that if the council pays you but the tenant doesn't top it up, the you would have to wait ages to be able to evict them?

caringa

nat38 wrote: »

I have heard mixed opinions about this. Some ppl seem to think that if the council pays you but the tenant doesn't top it up, the you would have to wait ages to be able to evict them?

Yes thats true. If you have a six month shorthold tenancy agreement, then you will have to wait for it to end which is precisely what happend withthe disabled lady with the two Husky dogs. Either way, whether the tenant pays the rent or the Council, you still might have difficulty in getting your money. So do try and do as many check on the prospective tenant as you can. In our situation with the disabled lady, we got her through what transpired to be a fairly novice letting agent and didnt meet the tenant beforehand because we were tied up with my father who had just suffered a severe stroke and was at deaths door. Best of luck!!

Pirategirl

Help please, if you can!! I have a friend renting a room from me, who is trying to start up a business, and is currently on a low income. She has decided to apply for housing benefit, after resisting because she wanted to manage on her own.
My question is - will she be eligible if she is renting a room in my (her landlady) house? I have looked online but there is so much information i'm not really understanding what the outcome would be. Any help would be great.
Thanks!

HappyMJ

Pirategirl wrote: »

Help please, if you can!! I have a friend renting a room from me, who is trying to start up a business, and is currently on a low income. She has decided to apply for housing benefit, after resisting because she wanted to manage on her own.
My question is - will she be eligible if she is renting a room in my (her landlady) house? I have looked online but there is so much information i'm not really understanding what the outcome would be. Any help would be great.
Thanks!

She can apply to the council who will decide. She should get the room in a shared house rate which can be found on the LHA search site. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx

sandsni

Landlord insurance can be considerably higher for tenants on benefits (you'd have to ask the insurance companies for their reasons for that, I wouldn't like to speculate), and from what I can gather some BTL mortgages place conditions on the type of tenant you can let to. So sometimes the decision not to take HB/LHA tenants isn't just about the tenant themselves or any prejudice on the part of the LL, but the overall financial picture.

mysterywoman10

slopemaster wrote: »

I would not take someone on housing benefit.
I decline to even do viewings for HB people so as not to waste my time and theirs. This is nothing to do with assumptions about what kind of people they are; it is to do with the FACT that affordability is always going to be problematic, and also the FACT that the government keep changing the rules.

But, if you do decide to go for it, make sure you have a WAGE-EARNING, HOME-OWNING GUARANTOR

I would say that if someone had a severe disability and could not work no matter how much they wanted to, that this statement is discrimination and is unlawful.

In answer to the original question I think that having a tenant that is in employment is no guarantee of anything, payment of rent or the way they treat your property, don't generalise anything. Judge each prospective tenant on their individual circumstances and do comprehensive checks.

mysterywoman10

Some of these sweeping generalisations make me sooooooooooo angry, although I appreciate they maybe based on personal experiences which lead to predujices.

I said it on another thread a day or so ago, the tenant before my severely disabled daughter in her flat was a "consultant heart doctor" this is totally and utterly true and he lived like a pig, he caused 4,000 plus worth of damage to the property. Albeit he paid to put it right but he was an anti social neighbor for other residents in the block.

Even though this 4,000 was spent on the property before she moved in they had failed to clear blocked bath's/toilet from his filth.

My main concern was that I or any of my relatives would never be referred to him at the local hospital and made a note of his name, when demands for bills etc. came to the flat for payment!!!

Don't judge a book by it's cover!!

newsgroup_monkey

mysterywoman10 wrote: »

Some of these sweeping generalisations make me sooooooooooo angry, although I appreciate they maybe based on personal experiences which lead to predujices.

Of course you can't judge a book by its cover but everyone has prejudices. We all do, but we don't talk about them.

If you are renting a house out, you are entirely at will to rent to whoever you want. Unless you clearly state why, you are welcome to be racist, sexist, homophobic or whatever. It's your place and if there are plenty of potential tenants, then stick to the one who suits your prejudices the best.

It's not a job so people don't have to give any reason why they don't want you as a tenant.

sammyjrichmond

I rent a few houses out and have rented to HB in the past. Generally i haven't found this to be a problem, in fact if the tenant goes into arrears, the council will often agree to pay you direct. This gives you a little more security. However, i believe there is a new system coming in called the Universal credit system, whereby people will receive all their benefits including HB in 1 payment. I have done a bit of reading on this and it sounds like there will be no facility for the council to pay you direct if the tenant goes into arrears. I find this worrying and personally if this is what they will be doing, i will be less inclined to accept HB in some cases in the future.

want2bmortgage3

I would say it's fine as long as you want to rent your place out long term. The problem is when you want to get your property back and the tenants have nowhere to move to. They will be relying on the council to find somewhere (and the council has hardly any empty properties). Whereas a private tenant will have the finances to move easily.