No DSS tenants

Silvertabby

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

Silvertabby said:

There are a couple of BTL properties on our estate.  The last time they were advertised for let, they both specified ' no housing benefit, must have a household income of at least 3 x rent'.  Will Shelter also make it illegal to insist on a minimum income? 

Wow! That's quite strict.
I guess it depends how much they were going for.

I mean, if I as a single person wanted to rent a place for £10k a month and my take-home income was £20k, I'd say I stood a chance of not having any trouble paying for it.

On the flip side, if the property was £300 a month, then I might struggle if there are 2 of us with a couple of kids and we have to run a car with a household income of £900 a month.

£900 per month for a 3 bed detached.  We're nowhere near London, so likely to need 2 x full time salaries to meet minimum income criteria.

pickledonionspaceraider

Cakeguts said:

The lady in the article with the 3 children was a really bad example of this situation and a very good example of someone who made terrible life choices. 

The whole situation was her fault.  She had 3 children and no savings.  Basically she and her husband did not plan for how they would pay for those children to have somewhere to live if they split up or one of them got ill.  Better family planning and more saving would have meant that she did not need to claim benefits or possibly even rent. 

The whole article annoys me because it implies that landlords have got to take people who can't afford the rent.  Many people would like to rent a mansion in a very expensive area but if they can't afford to the landlord should not be forced to let them.  Taking away no benefit tenants from an advert doesn't increase the choice of those tenants because they will all fail the affordability test or the landlord won't choose them as tenants.  

Some people have unrealistic expectations of what a private landlord will put up with.

If people waited for a perfect time / enough savings to have somewhere to live if your relationship failed - birthrates would plummet

Hasbeen

Landlords may now be unable to state no DHS etc in adverts, but at the end of the day when background checks/references from employer/paylines etc are taken into account they will go for who they deem the most able to afford the rent.

theartfullodger

Hasbeen said:

Landlords may now be unable to state no DHS etc in adverts,..................

DHS being ????

Of course, "DSS" was dissolved in 2001 anyway, very very much of a has-been....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Social_Security_(United_Kingdom)

newsgroupmonkey_

theartfullodger said:

Hasbeen said:

Landlords may now be unable to state no DHS etc in adverts,..................

DHS being ????

Of course, "DSS" was dissolved in 2001 anyway, very very much of a has-been....

I think they meant DHSS, which was the forerunner to the DSS for those old farts among us (apparently, stopped being that in 1988)

hb2

It is now DWP.

[Deleted User]

So many assumptions in this thread.  As someone who has been a carer on benefits for years I am a decent person who has no unpaid debts, only paid rent a few days late when partner (who was working, please take note) didn't pay what he said he would to LL.  I paid it within days.  I also improved the place (put a bathroom in, did the work myself and no one could believe it even trades who came round).  Having a professional tenant because you want rent paid, or to avoid having your place trashed is down to the sort of person the tenant is, not just their income or profession.  That's what you need to look at once basic income is proved, not its source.

tom9980

Rabbit24 said:

This could sound like a snide comment, but it isn't, as I'd really like to know how you would handle the situation if those professionals lost their jobs and had to claim benefits? Obviously this can and does happen, and isn't also true that many people who are claiming HB or UC are in work anyway?

It is not uncommon to get rent guarantee insurance but to do that the tenant needs to pass affordability tests which most tenants on LHA do not pass. A professional tenant would pass assuming they met affordability and so there would be no major issue should the tenant lose their job insurance covers the landlord until eviction.

Cakeguts

deannatrois said:

So many assumptions in this thread.  As someone who has been a carer on benefits for years I am a decent person who has no unpaid debts, only paid rent a few days late when partner (who was working, please take note) didn't pay what he said he would to LL.  I paid it within days.  I also improved the place (put a bathroom in, did the work myself and no one could believe it even trades who came round).  Having a professional tenant because you want rent paid, or to avoid having your place trashed is down to the sort of person the tenant is, not just their income or profession.  That's what you need to look at once basic income is proved, not its source.

The problem is though that the minority have spoiled it for the rest of the benefit claiming tenants by not paying their rent and landlords and letting agents remember these not the ones who do pay. 

If you think of the rent as being the same as someone getting paid to go to work everyday you can see why landlords and agents want to avoid not getting their salaries from people who don't pay the rent and if they are seeing more problems with rent payments from housing benefit tenants than from working tenants they will tend to be more cautious with renting to other people with the same criteria. After all no one knows if a tenant is going to wreck the house before they move in. 

afis1904

John_ said:

theartfullodger said:

Well done Shelter, helping getting the "No DSS" overturned! People on benefits shouldn't be discriminated against.

Artful: In receipt of 6 benefits, thank you, you generous tax-payers you!

I’d probably just accept the fines, or stop renting my place out. I want to rent to professionals with good jobs, the sort of people who tend to respect a property, and who are going to make sure that they pay their rent on time every month.

You can never be certain, but when allowing someone to live in such a valuable asset it’s fair enough to push the odds as much in your favour as you can.

And you wonder why landlord is one of the least respected professions in the country.