Dss/disability

Leon648

I've got an appointment to see a house soon but the listing says no DSS, I completely forgot about it as I have spoken to many who don't consider us dss as we are disabled not 'out of work' . I'm thinking of writing a letter to take with me expanding on our circumstances, but will the fact that I didn't mention it straight off count against me?

haf1

Strictly speaking, this refers to tenants who pay rent by means of housing benefit.

davidmcn

Smoke_me_a_Kipper wrote: »

What is dss?

It's what people starting calling the DHSS about 20 years after it was abolished.

RuthnJasper

It stands for Department of Social Security and means, like Haf1 says, something along the lines of "no one on housing benefit or homeless".


Good luck with the house Leon.

G_M

Since DSS has no direct current equivelant it means whatever the landlord interprets it as.

That may be 'Housing Benefit claimants', 'Job-seeker claimants', 'Disability Living allowance' claimants and/or anything else the LL chooses to include.

The best thing the OP can do is to take evidence of secure income, from whatever long-term source, along with the usual positive references.

[Deleted User]

I found that if I took bank statements to show I was financially viable and paid rent, most LL's were a bit more amenable. Easier if you have a guarantor though (I didn't). I was only when dealing with Agencies I had problems. They tend to discount any form of benefit as income, regardless of the source.

Lloyd90

I think part of the worry is that the tenants are employed and able to pay the rent etc.

Unfortunately there is a stigma with housing benefit claimants whom move into houses, don't pay the rent and take months to evict, them just move onto the next one. Same applies to tenants who wreck the houses.

Unfortunately a few bad cases ruin it for the good ones who are just stuck with unfortunate circumstances.

Part of the security is that a person with a job and good credit rating etc if taken to court for non payment has 'more to lose' and may pay up, where as someone who is on social security won't lose anything and if taken to court is still possibly unable to pay.

Some people may say I'm wrong, but then tell me why so many places stipulate no DHSS? Every place we viewed in Bristol had this condition.

Cakeguts

There can also be problems if the housing benefit doesn't cover the whole rent and has to be made up by the tenant. Some tenants get into arrears if the rent is a lot more than the housing benefit covers.

sparky130a

Leon648 wrote: »

I've got an appointment to see a house soon but the listing says no DSS, I completely forgot about it as I have spoken to many who don't consider us dss as we are disabled not 'out of work' . I'm thinking of writing a letter to take with me expanding on our circumstances, but will the fact that I didn't mention it straight off count against me?

Are you referring to the DWP?

Lloyd90

Cakeguts wrote: »

There can also be problems if the housing benefit doesn't cover the whole rent and has to be made up by the tenant. Some tenants get into arrears if the rent is a lot more than the housing benefit covers.

This is quite common, and a lot of the time no fault of the tenant!

Many times I've heard phone calls in the social services office that someone's benefits have been stopped for X,Y or Z reason and even when sorted out can take up to 6 weeks to come through.

I've heard them on the phone saying "how am I supposed to pay the landlord?" And the staff telling them they just have to tell the landlord to be patient.

Again this is ruined by the small amount of blaggers who tell the landlord it's a mistake and it'll be there any minute and then never pay!

seven-day-weekend

Lloyd90 wrote: »

I think part of the worry is that the tenants are employed and able to pay the rent etc.

Unfortunately there is a stigma with housing benefit claimants whom move into houses, don't pay the rent and take months to evict, them just move onto the next one. Same applies to tenants who wreck the houses.

Unfortunately a few bad cases ruin it for the good ones who are just stuck with unfortunate circumstances.

Part of the security is that a person with a job and good credit rating etc if taken to court for non payment has 'more to lose' and may pay up, where as someone who is on social security won't lose anything and if taken to court is still possibly unable to pay.

Some people may say I'm wrong, but then tell me why so many places stipulate no DHSS? Every place we viewed in Bristol had this condition.

There are various reasons. Sometimes the landlord's mortgage lender or insurance company won't allow it.

Some landlords are scared of huge delays when Benefits are claimed, and taht the tenant won't be able to pay the rent in the meantime.


Usually Benefits`don't cover all the rent and LLs are worried that the tenant won't pay the top-up.

Various reasons.