Landlords Not Accepting Housing Benefit Tenants

Red-Squirrel_2

silvercar wrote: »

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

Yeah, I wasn't thinking there.

Hoploz

Someone I know had similar difficulty. Her husband was working but on a zero hours contract as a delivery driver and therefore they couldn't pass the credit checks.

In the end she managed to find someone through a sympathetic letting agent. There were a number of hoops to jump through ... Normal deposit plus 3 months rent paid in advance. Then she had a call to say the landlord required a guarantor, which they couldn't offer, but eventually this was not required and they have moved in ok after several months living in a Travelodge!

In this case they managed to get the deposit and upfront payment covered by children's services I think it was. Housing couldn't help. There are Rent Start schemes where your deposit is covered.

The deposit might or might not be an issue for your daughter, but the point I'm making is that there is help out there and the thing that swung it was being able to offer the upfront rent. If you're able to be a guarantor that will help as well.

If you can offer all this to a landlord, and confirmation that your daughter is actually working, rather than bumming around the house causing damage all day, I'm sure you'll find something.

tlc678910

Problems with hb tenant:
Hb not paid direct to landlord anymore so may not see rent.
Hb system in arrears and inflexible e.g. cancelled if someone starts work and takes ages to set up again.
Lack of deposit or deposit paid by someone else so the renter may not be fussed about damage deductions and leave damage/mess
Hb overpayments/fraud can be clawed back from the landlord
A tenant may offer a guarantor but when push comes to shove that guarantor is very unlikely to want to actually pay the full rent - for months if required.

The government does not seem concerned that if someone has received housing benefit for their rent and not paid the rent they have stolen public money - they make no attempt to recover that money - strange?

That's what you are up against as someone needing to rent on hb. The government could help a lot by reinstating direct payments to landlords and penalizing tenants rather than landlords for fraudulent claims.

I worked in housing support for a housing association (when payments were direct to landlords) and the absolute hardest tenants to keep on track that got into massive arrears were those that wanted to work but had low paid sporadic work with hb claims that were cancelled repeatedly and got in a pickle. The people that couldn't work or just didn't ticked over nicely. (I'd love to hear that this has improved if anyone knows?)

If you can get a landlord to listen you could try to address these concerns. For example as guarantor you could say that you will ensure that advance rent is always paid and that delays in receiving the hb will not delay the rent being paid. That assumes you can afford to say this. You could offer a decent deposit to help allay damage concerns. A character reference or two for the tenant from their previous landlord or an employer would also help.

If the person works I wouldn't over emphasise them as a "hb" tenant as such as I do think someone working with a top up will be viewed differently to someone only on hb.
Good luck

ERICS_MUM

Thanks again for all these very helpful responses.

FBaby

The main reason why I will never take a tenant on HB is the worry that they stop paying and it taking months to evict them as they are advised to wait for the bailiffs. Even if they pay rent the cost of evicting is high and never recovered from people on benefits.

Of course there is always a risk with working tenants too but they have more to lose by risking a ccj.

My advice would be word to mouth, someone trusting that your DD is reliable with good values and likely to look after the place and cause no trouble.

Murphybear

I agree the whole system is in a mess.

Apologies for long post, this subject is a bete noir of mine

The government changed the rules to help tenants. Unfortunately it swung the other way. I think they should go back to paying the HB to landlords, hopefully it will make more of them accept HB. It is reported that mortgage companies won't allow HB tenants, but what happens if the working tenant loses their job and then have to claim HB? I have not seen this particular conundrum answered.

As retired tenants with top up HB we have probably had fewer problems. We found a lovely bungalow well within our means. It had been on the market for a while so the agent was pleased to let it. We told the agent we got £10 pcm month HB and the door slammed in our face. We pass most affordability criteria on our pensions alone so stopped mentioning HB. One agent told us the "no DSS" rule didn't apply to pensioners on top up benefits :eek:

We were fortunate to find an over 60s HA property that was large enough to suit our needs. No agency fees, no referencing, HB happily accepted (70% of their tenants claim), no deposit and pets accepted plus in a very desirable area. The whole place was redecorated and new carpets before we moved in. We are now "happy as clams"

According to what I have read the ROI doesn't allow discrimination against their version of HB and it works for them.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

coffeehound wrote: »

Have you looked on

http://www.dssmove.co.uk/

All properties on there should accept benefits claimants, though some will require a guarantor.

I looked on this website out of curiosity and in my entire borough there are only two properties. One two bed and a four bed.

silvercar

Lioness_Twinkletoes wrote: »

I looked on this website out of curiosity and in my entire borough there are only two properties. One two bed and a four bed.

Zero in my town!

Smodlet

Lioness_Twinkletoes wrote: »

I looked on this website out of curiosity and in my entire borough there are only two properties. One two bed and a four bed.

silvercar wrote: »

Zero in my town!

Zero in my post code which I know for a fact is not true. I guess LLs must have to register on there and I can't see too many advertising the fact they welcome tenants on HB.

I totally agree with Murphybear; it is high time HB was paid directly to LLs again; changing that was one of the top three most stupid things I can think of which any government has ever done.

The whole system is utterly sick. Immigration must be a factor in increasing demand but I believe an overhaul (if not a revolution) is long overdue. The gap between rich and poor is obscene in this country and I, for one am sick of hearing private LLs bemoan their loss of tax breaks; who paid for those? Oh, that's right, the rest of us. Personally, I would far, far rather my taxes were used to provide HB for those who need it than to make the rich even richer.

csgohan4

not to mention some lenders and LL insurance also exclude those tenants on HB as well, so not all the LL fault either