Tenant late with rent

ging84

it's all about the tone of what's being said, and it shows how easily the tenant could have their back put up if not handled sensitively even though it is the landlord that has been wronged by the tenant failing to pay rent on time

Lord_Baltimore

So instead of just offering impartial advice, we should be judge and jury of a situation we don't even know all the details of? Seems harsh to me. Supporting Landlords and tenants without bias would seem the better option no matter which camp we are personally in. The idea being that we're helping the arrangement to work which is in the interests of both parties.

ging84

weather it seems harsh or not to some people is not that important, these are real people's reactions and you can sometimes learn something from them that no amout of knowing the actual rules and practices can teach you

dktreesea

Angelicdevil wrote: »

Forgive me if I've missed something but the tenants aren't relying on housing benefits?

They are simply being paid late by their employer.

Agree with other posters with regards to keeping a good relationship with what seem to be good tenants.

Keep an eye on the situation and if it becomes a regular occurrence that the rent is delayed by a few days consider changing the due date? If it escalates and the rent becomes unpaid then consider going down the formal route of issuing an S8. But at the moment, I wouldn't be too hasty!

Yes, I wasn't very clear. I just meant that if it did turn out that the tenants had too low an income to be able to afford the rent and subsequently applied for housing benefit, the thing for the landlord to maybe keep in mind about hb is that it can be unreliable. People's housing benefit gets stopped for all sorts of reasons, a letter not answered, change of circumstances, Some third party telling the council that somebody lives/doesn't live with the tenant.

One way I would consider renting to people who need housing benefit to be able to afford the rent is to rent to the council (and let them sublease to the tenant) on a commercial rent basis. At the end of the lease the council restore the property back to the starting point, are responsible for all repairs and guarantee the rent, regardless of the tenant's ability or willingness to pay it.

jamie11

dktreesea wrote: »

One way I would consider renting to people who need housing benefit to be able to afford the rent is to rent to the council (and let them sublease to the tenant) on a commercial rent basis. At the end of the lease the council restore the property back to the starting point, are responsible for all repairs and guarantee the rent, regardless of the tenant's ability or willingness to pay it.

I suppose you'd also be quite happy for the council to supply the contract as well? To put in the tenants of their choice? Because that already happens, except for the bit about them repairing* and guaranteeing the rent to you, they will pay it if the claim is genuine but will stop it at the first sign of a tenant cheating the system.

Anybody can be in a decent job and get a rental based on that but it's too easy today to lose a job and end up having to claim LHA, does the loss of their job automatically demote them in your eyes to unreliable spongers on the state?

* Why should you expect the council to repair your property, you're the one making profit from it, that's what rent is. Maintain your own assets.

silvercar

Yes, I wasn't very clear. I just meant that if it did turn out that the tenants had too low an income to be able to afford the rent and subsequently applied for housing benefit, the thing for the landlord to maybe keep in mind about hb is that it can be unreliable. People's housing benefit gets stopped for all sorts of reasons, a letter not answered, change of circumstances, Some third party telling the council that somebody lives/doesn't live with the tenant.

Just as tenants paying the rent themselves can suffer from losing their jobs/ a reduction in hours/ wrong deductions/ working tax credits wrongly calculated......

Old_Git

have the tenants now paid there rent ?

Lord_Baltimore

ging84 wrote: »

weather it seems harsh or not to some people is not that important, these are real people's reactions and you can sometimes learn something from them that no amout of knowing the actual rules and practices can teach you

Fine, but in that case let's bring some balance to the discussion. How about tenants pay their debts on time or expect to be invited to leave?

The comments here have been very much "the tenant can't help it if his/her employer hasn't paid him/her" by that same token how does a landlord explain to his/her creditors that because a rent hasn't been paid they too will have to go whistle for their money? There's a domino effect isn't there?

jamie11

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

Fine, but in that case let's bring some balance to the discussion. How about tenants pay their debts on time or expect to be invited to leave?

The comments here have been very much "the tenant can't help it if his/her employer hasn't paid him/her" by that same token how does a landlord explain to his/her creditors that because a rent hasn't been paid they too will have to go whistle for their money? There's a domino effect isn't there?

I broadly agree, this whole thread is predicated that tenants should be responsible, meanwhile, in the real world, that doesn't always happen. Landlords too can be irresponsible, such as cutting it too fine where a missed rental payment means a missed mortgage payment. Any landlord that can't survive a temporary hiccup in payments is in the wrong business.

dktreesea

jamie11 wrote: »

I suppose you'd also be quite happy for the council to supply the contract as well? To put in the tenants of their choice? Because that already happens, except for the bit about them repairing* and guaranteeing the rent to you, they will pay it if the claim is genuine but will stop it at the first sign of a tenant cheating the system.

Anybody can be in a decent job and get a rental based on that but it's too easy today to lose a job and end up having to claim LHA, does the loss of their job automatically demote them in your eyes to unreliable spongers on the state?

* Why should you expect the council to repair your property, you're the one making profit from it, that's what rent is. Maintain your own assets.

It's not that kind of lease. When you rent to the council, so that they can then rent the property to clients of their choice, it's a commercial, rather than a residential lease. So just like renting a shop to someone, the tenants, in this case the council, are responsible for all the outgoings, including repairs and maintenance.

If, on the other hand, you as a landlord choose to rent to someone who plans to claim housing benefit in order to fund that rent, you are indeed correct. You are then liable for all repairs and if the hb is stopped, you, as the landlord would lose out.