Landlords Not Accepting Housing Benefit Tenants

Hasbeen

theartfullodger wrote: »

Even if insurance prevents HB tenants it's easy & usually only slightly more expensive to get insurance that covers such tenants . Those landlords are either lying or stupidly mean

Where I am, the HB is paid directly to the tenant. it used to be paid directly to the landlord, but the government wanted people to be responsible. The tenant is supposed to make up the difference.

Sadly there are a lot of irresponsible people out there and the landlord does not get any rent from them.

The landlord can take out extortionate insurance to cover no rent and damage etc, but why should they? when they can rent out to someone well more "trustworthy" at paying???:(

And if not paid after losing thousands in rent and legal costs they finaly get their property back.

Cant pay we will take it away LOL

tom9980

In my city for a 3 bed the cheapest on offer right now is £700, the next is £735, £750 to £850 there are lots more choices. The LHA rate for a 3 bed is £663 a month. I doubt many tenants on benefits can afford to top up rent by nearly a £100.

That's just 52 3 bed properties, 15 are HMO's so in reality 37 properties in a city of 100,000 people available on rightmove. I have never seen supply so low right now (Government statistics show the number of privately rented homes in England fell by 46,000 to 4.79 million last year, the largest reduction since 1988.). I rented our old 3 bed in the city for £700 last August and i thought that was a lot of money at the time. (I like to keep track with daily rightmove alerts.)

When the government introduced extra stamp duty and more taxation and regulation for Landlords the big Landlord associations told them Landlords would exit the market and that is now happening and supply has gone down and prices have gone up considerably in my city as a result.

It's a tough market out there if you need a home to live in.

Hasbeen

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

I can understand the reluctance to let to HB tenants. Our family member keeps her flat lovely but she tells us some horrific stories of her neighbours. Some people are worse than animals and don’t realise they are fortunate to have a reasonably decent place to live.

That about sums it up. Unfortunately landlords especially with the governments witch hunt against them will not take the risk, both tenant and landlord sign contracts, if the landlord breaks it they are immediately up on court with vast fines.

If the renter breaks it, after a year or so they are finally evicted leaving the landlord with thousands of pounds in losses! So why chance it?:(

bxboards

In my area, no letting agents will take housing benefit applicants, they all tend to take a 12 to 15% cut if they manage the properties, and they tend to say that historically HB tenants are much harder work - in other words, the agents don't really make money for the 'hassle'.

I think you also need to distinguish between someone wanting rent wholly paid by HB, rather than someone working who needs a small top-up. Agents won't but small landlords will.

Often offering a few months rent upfront can make all the difference, but I can appreciate if things are tight already, that isn't going to be viable.

Googling on Gumtree can find a few HB / no deposit properties, but too be honest, some of them look really grotty

I think meeting a private landlord face to face will be your best option, you may find a 'no HB' policy will soften after a face to face meeting - but do tell them beforehand!

Good luck!

Red-Squirrel_2

If the Housing Benefit is paid directly to the tenant, why do they even need to tell the landlord they are getting it?

Hasbeen

tom9980 wrote: »

In my city for a 3 bed the cheapest on offer right now is £700, the next is £735, £750 to £850 there are lots more choices. The LHA rate for a 3 bed is £663 a month. I doubt many tenants on benefits can afford to top up rent by nearly a £100.

That's just 52 3 bed properties, 15 are HMO's so in reality 37 properties in a city of 100,000 people available on rightmove. I have never seen supply so low right now (Government statistics show the number of privately rented homes in England fell by 46,000 to 4.79 million last year, the largest reduction since 1988.). I rented our old 3 bed in the city for £700 last August and i thought that was a lot of money at the time. (I like to keep track with daily rightmove alerts.)

When the government introduced extra stamp duty and more taxation and regulation for Landlords the big Landlord associations told them Landlords would exit the market and that is now happening and supply has gone down and prices have gone up considerably in my city as a result.

It's a tough market out there if you need a home to live in.

Same here. There is now a drastic shortage of rental homes due to the governments anti landlord policies. The casual landlord with one or two properties have sold up. This has created a drastic reduction in property availability.

Meanwhile the landlords that are left have had to increase rents to cover all the extra expenses incurred by the new legislation.:(

Government. Gun. Foot.

A responsible intelligent government should be encouraging private entrepreneurs to offer solutions to the shortage in the housing market, because the councils can not cope!!:o

NeilCr

You could try your local council

We have a pretty active housing options team and they can help with finding properties. They have lists of landlords and letting agents and may well have some sense of those who take HB

I'd also strongly second the suggestion of contacting a Domestic Violence support organisation. See if there is a local one as they will have quite a bit of experience of the issues facing your family member and may be in touch with housing support organisations in the area.

Hasbeen

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

If the Housing Benefit is paid directly to the tenant, why do they even need to tell the landlord they are getting it?

Any responsible landlord asks for proof of income, bank statements, employee payslips etc just to make sure the prospective tenant has the means to pay the rent. There are also credit checks that can be made on prospective tenants.


The problem is now to the governments new legislation against landlords, they will take the earner with employment before someone with HB:(

If renting from the council they do not UNLIKE private landlords have to provide, by LAW!!


Landlord registration. Renewable

Wired in smoke detectors. Safety check renewable

Wired in heat detector. Safety check renewable

Certificate of electrical safety. Renewable

Certificate of gas safety. Renewable

Certificate of energy efficiency. Renewable


All has to be paid for £££££££

Plus tenants have more rights than the landlord. The tenant does not pay rent once moving in the only recourse is court action. which can take up to a year, with lost rental income and legal fees.

However during this the landlord by law has to ensure all of the above at cost.


That's why they are getting very picky at selecting tenants.

silvercar

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

If the Housing Benefit is paid directly to the tenant, why do they even need to tell the landlord they are getting it?

Tenant referencing could well show it up, or at least show that their income is too low to pay the rent.

silvercar

Upside of a housing benefit tenant is that they are usually looking for a long term let, so avoiding voids with no rent coming in.

Find a good one and they will want to make the place their home and will look after it. Ironically, the lack of availability of decent rental properties for HB tenants means a good one is more likely to want to stay long term, less likely to be demanding and difficult.