renting to housing benefit tenants

LittleMax

I have now sold my rental but were I to be buying a property for rental I would certainly be looking for a mortgage that allowed me to rent to benefit claimants. As I do not use an agent I would have a massive pool of people to choose from, who are looking for a long term rent without hefty fees, something they can make their home. Choose carefully and you will have an excellent tenant who will look after your property for a long time to come.

I was also willing to take pets.

sam2015_2

Thanks everyone for your replies. Mixed opinion.

I spoke to the local council and they have a landlord scheme in which they'll find me a tenant who is on housing benefit. I can only charge the rent the HB pays(can charge £200 per month more through EA or private tenant). The rent will be paid to me directly. The tenancy agreement is between me and tenants. I get to choose my tenants and will be able to rent out within a week. Should I go with that?
I understand HB pays weekly so the rent will be every 4 weeks. i.e 13 payments a year. Is that right?

[Deleted User]

Yes, HB is paid on a 4 week cycle, not calendar month cycle.

Just research the tenant properly, more than just credit checks and LL reference. Past behaviour is a predictor of future behaviour lol.

Does the council offer any guarantees re damage, rent or repairs..., some schemes like this do exist? It doesn't seem right that a LL is expected to accept £200 less than the monthly rent in the area for little benefit really. I'd be looking for a bit more from such a scheme.

tom9980

sam2015 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your replies. Mixed opinion.

I spoke to the local council and they have a landlord scheme in which they'll find me a tenant who is on housing benefit. I can only charge the rent the HB pays(can charge £200 per month more through EA or private tenant). The rent will be paid to me directly. The tenancy agreement is between me and tenants. I get to choose my tenants and will be able to rent out within a week. Should I go with that?
I understand HB pays weekly so the rent will be every 4 weeks. i.e 13 payments a year. Is that right?

You can rent it and sacrifice £2400 a year which to me is a VERY nice holiday abroad, frankly i wouldn't touch that scenario with a barge pole

dekaspace

HappyMJ wrote: »

As a landlord I do not accept tenants who want the council to make direct payments of housing benefit.

I prefer my tenants to be responsible enough to manage their own finances and pay the rent on time each month even if that payment is essentially income from benefits.

I do not want to be faffing about figuring out exactly what my tenant owes as HB is paid fortnightly in arrears and rent is due monthly in advance.

I also do not want to be liable for benefit overpayments. If the tenant is given the HB then the tenant is liable to repay an overpayment even if they've used it to pay next months rent.

I also want to be paid rent in advance. HB pays rent in arrears after the rent is due.

I do accept tenants on benefits but they've got to be responsible with money. They've got to have saved enough to pay the first months rent and enough to put down a deposit. I would not accept any tenant that has a CCJ for rent arrears.

My situation was that I paid the months rent in advance and the deposit, sometimes offering more than they wanted as a security i.e if they say they are worried about me being on benefits I will say I can afford more (but make it clear I am not made of money and its only down to me saving up so once paid no money for anything else) so when the first payment of HB comes in that covers months 2 rent and means when I move out I get money in my pocket, in some ways I prefer paid direct as been held to ransom before by landlords who got paid direct as they knew they didn't have to worry about state of the property as they were paid direct, and when I went to move out and have final payment made to me council refuses saying they can't do that meaning I had a property where landlord kept my deposit, and got final months rent twice then still claimed I did damages.

Paying directs advantages mean you don't have to worry about money arriving in your account, and if the payment is late and you have a standing order set up to LL it means you get fees, and even if on time it takes 2 or 3 days for the standing order to be credited so means if rent is due you have a high chance of being late, but then the problems I mentioned above.

I have disabilities though and mental heath problems, so the reason I prefer direct payment is means less hassle, and also means landlord trusts you to not spend the cash first.

Though due to my disabilities I have had almost all shoddy landlords in the past, multiple illegal evictions, a few problems with arrears due to council putting claim on hold which I was blamed for(their logic being the council just doesn't hold claims, I must be lying about something therefore my fault)

My local councils are 4 weekly in arrears which is fine with weekly/non calendar month rents, what landlords tend to do is work out the cost around the benefits so they can work out shortfall, ends up I am actually owed money by landlord if staying long periods.

I have a ok credit check, only issues on it are disputes like identity fraud and when I closed mobile phone account but it wasn't so they wanted charges but my score is close to the average for my area and the UK