Renting for someone

MissG80

Hi not sure how to title the thread. Not holding out much hope but can anyone please help me.

I have a family member with mental illness. He is currently in unsuitable council accommodation. He is priority A to be moved. However my worry is he will move to another area where there are problems. If he rented privately he would have much more choice.

How do I do this?

I rang some estate agents and they said some properties were available on DSS. I dont know if they would accept the tenancy deposit scheme. He doesn't have a deposit and I dont have the money to help, not at the moment. I probably could ask my dad to help and scrape some of mine together. We wouldn't be able to expect it back though. As he will never clean a flat enough. I am helping him to save and budget so we could forget about it and keep building his nest egg. Is it even possible that a landlord would accept someone on DSS with mental health problems? Obviously I would need to be the guarantor.

The thing is as well he will never get a reference from his current landlord. Maybe he is better to move to another home through the council and stay out of trouble, with the incentive that he can move to a better area if he saves/has a good reference. But, back to the previous Q would a landlord even take him?

Really appreciate thoughts from prospective landlords.

Brown_Bear

What about council tenant exchange?

I know that some landlords specialise in taking tenants with mental health / substance misuse problems.
This is because they get paid extra high rents (either by the NHS or social service).

Your best bet is to ask a mental health charity or local CMHT / GP surgery for details.

Brown_Bear

Also - what is the problem with the current accommodation?

If it's local drug users etc. I don't think moving would help. There are drug users all over the UK and they will seek out anyone who is interested in getting involved. Likewise, they will usually ignore those who are not interested in their lifestyle. It's more about mindset than location.

I would not advise giving up a council place.

Brown_Bear

Another option would be to find him a room as a lodger in a shared house etc.

As a lodger he'd be less of a risk for a LL than a tenant would be.

But he'd be losing ALL his security of tenure - so I really would not recommend this.

Ratkin007

There are problems everywhere. you talk of losing tenancy as he doesn't keep a place clean and refer to his mental health. Socialhousing is more secure and considerate to needs. If your family member didn't look after a private rent and if there were issues with rent, it wouldn't be too long before he was evicted. Be careful of being guarantor as you put yourself at risk "can't pay we'll take it away".

Brown_Bear

Ratkin007 wrote: »

There are problems everywhere. you talk of losing tenancy as he doesn't keep a place clean and refer to his mental health. Socialhousing is more secure and considerate to needs. If your family member didn't look after a private rent and if there were issues with rent, it wouldn't be too long before he was evicted. Be careful of being guarantor as you put yourself at risk "can't pay we'll take it away".

Agreed.
The whole purpose of requesting a guarantor is that they are worth suing.

If he's in social housing already, the council / social services are more 'motivated' to find him a place in supported housing etc - as that frees up a regular property for the next social tenant on the waiting list.

FreeBear

Brown_Bear wrote: »

Another option would be to find him a room as a lodger in a shared house etc.

As a lodger he'd be less of a risk for a LL than a tenant would be.

But he'd be losing ALL his security of tenure - so I really would not recommend this.

Depends on the nature of the mental illness - Having had a pair of lodgers in the past with serious MH issues, I wouldn't want another. Value my personal safety & wine too much.


I would concur with the "don't give up the current flat" comments. As a lodger he would be at risk of being hours away from becoming homeless if things went pear shaped. With a tenancy, it would take months to evict.

MissG80

Thanks for the comments. I agree its too much risk. I agree it's best to keep him in council accommodation. I was helping him save but he's just spent all his savings. I feel like it's just shuffling him around until the next thing but he seems happy. He has a charity and a doctor on his case - they've written a letter about the need to move him. Thanks for your comments.

Cakeguts

I know you want to help but you must let him keep a secure tenancy. You must also not make him invisible by moving him out of the system. Or creating problems with rent increases etc.

[Deleted User]

I also agree that moving him to a private rental, (with a LL who doesn't have any real life requirement to have expertise in coping with someone with a MH illness as against a council, who normally have some body who does,) will put him at a disadvantage. And you at risk of losing a lot of money if he isn't so good at keeping a place as he found it if you are a guarantor. You could request sheltered type housing as well. Or help him select more suitable accommodation?

Have you investigated getting some help with cleaning etc? A social worker will help with this. They might help with making financial arrangements as well (although my son's social work department point blank refused to do this at all for my son). It sounds like this person would benefit from having an appointee at the very least.