Hb tenants question

tim123456789

Does you local council have a scheme of taking on private rental property?

They will put in the same HB tenants but be taking all of the risk away from you.

tom9980

Lots of mortgages and insurance policies dont allow HB claimants. Universal credit is also spooking lots of landlords for good reason as well.

Its hard and i have been on the needing to claim side of things it took some rude interviews with agents, 6 months rent upfront + guarantor to get the flat we needed in 2006. Now i am potentially looking at purchasing a second property and letting it and i wouldn't entertain a HB claimant unless they met the above criteria passed all checks and had a string of reliable references.

I also looked at our local council scheme for renting properties off you and they limited the deposit to 1 1/2 months rent and that was the max in damages/arrears you could claim it is crazy!!!! be wary of those schemes IMHO.

barnaby-bear

mumlady1 wrote: »

I think I'm correct in thinking the rent is paid from the benefits office in arrears, do you have any way of getting around this? How easy/difficult is it to get the process started?

If the council pays directly to the LL but the claim is fraudulant the LL has to repay it, even though they didn't lie.

MAny mortgage companies won't allow HB/LHA tenants. Basically it's hard for them to find new accommodation so giving them notice is very difficult as they get forced to stay to in turn force social housing to prioritise them...

outofmoney

Another one here on HB who is desperately seeking property but coming against the same problem of 'No DSS'.

Whilst I realise the risk may be higher, and in some circumstances mortgages and insurances may disallow HB (Though insurance could be changed) it is unfair that we are so badly treated in general.

We have rented privately for nearly 20 years, only 3 times has our rent been late, twice due to work paying late or changing how they pay and then due to hubby losing his job. All the time the rent has been covered, or almost covered by HB it has been paid on time.

I wouldn't expect a LL to wait until the HB is sorted. If I want a property I would expect to pay rent and deposit in advance like anyone else. Also happy to provide guarantor.

As already mentioned many people on HB are after a long term let as getting it will not be easy so will have the tendency to look after the property much better than someone using it as a short term base.

With careful vetting, and good background checks, taking on a HB tenant shouldn't be an issue, or at least no more so than any other person.

No-ones income is guaranteed these days!

mumlady1

Hi everyone, thanks for taking the time to reply

Hubby & I have actually bought our flats specifically as BTL so we're not accidental landlords & despite the ups and downs we're hopefully in this business for the long term

I'm going to give this some serious consideration over the weekend & will check our mortgage & insurance conditions on Monday.

We have a decent contingency fund set aside so even if we don't find a tenant for a few months its not a big problem at the moment.

Thanks again everyone for the advice, I'll let you know how I get on

brit1234

If you don't want housing benefit tenants but can't get other renters then your rent is set too high. Drop your rent till it is affordable for the market.

outofmoney

Maybe you could, if possible, be willing to accept those on HB but either those over a certain age or on it for particular reasons. Not everyone who claims it do so because they don't want to work. Some people who are carers or have a disability get it too.

Somerset

tom9980 wrote: »

Universal credit is also spooking lots of landlords for good reason as well.

Mind expanding on this tom ? It sounds like something (the impact of) landlords should be aware of.

jamie11

Somerset wrote: »

Mind expanding on this tom ? It sounds like something (the impact of) landlords should be aware of.

At the moment nobody is sure how UC is going to be applied with regard to rent payments, many landlords (me included) see problems ahead because there is no clear cut method to ensure the rent element is still going to be paid to the LL if they have a tenant that is poor with money management, ( or just naughty). Putting the money into the hands of a tenant that thinks the latest ipad is more important than the rent is a recipe for disaster.

It promises an interesting period ahead where S8's and S21's become even more common than they are today, that will lead to emergency legislation to effectively put things back to where they are today.

The trouble with legislation like this is that nobody looks to the future to foresee the problems, they just scramble to sort it all out when it's up and running, that's not a good thing for confidence if you have a mortgage to pay on your rental property.

jamie11

Here's another more general view.

http://www.parentdish.co.uk/mum/universal-credit-and-changes-to-benefits-explained/