No DSS Mortgage loophole

jacob_pepworth

Hi everyone,

I've been struggling to rent a property in Bristol, and I'm just trying to understand where (if at all) I can push back at some of the rejection from Landlords and Agents.
So I know that letting agents themselves are not allowed to have a 'no DSS' policy anymore, but this seems to have been replaced by 'mortgage does not allow for DSS tenants'. Could anyone provide any more insight into the origin of this mortgage stipulation? Was there some legislature that I have completely missed and am unable to Google? 

Any help  and info would be appreciated!

Have a great day,

Jake

poppy12345

I've lived in my current house for about 20 months and before i found this, i did look for many months. Then i stumbled across a letting agency close to where i live that do have properties for DSS tenants. The only issue is that they ask for a guarantor, which wasn't a problem for me but many people won't be able to get one.

For obvious reasons i won't mention the name of the agency because it will give away the area i live, which i won't disclose on any public forum.

Thankfully my current landlord has almost 100 properties and i've been told if i ever moved in the future then renting another property won't be a problem, providing i stay within 25 miles of where i currently live.

At the time, i couldn't find any legistation that states mortgage companies are unable to allow DDS tenants, having had another look now, i still couldn't find anything.

The issue is that benefits are usually paid in arrears and landlords usually want money in advance.

I've been privately renting for many years, with a few years inbetween of renting from social housing. I have found as the years progress, it just gets increasingly more difficult to find anyone that will accept us. We all seem to be "tarred with the same brush"

All i can advise is to keep looking and hopefully, you will be successful eventually.

Jude57

jacob_pepworth said:

Hi everyone,

I've been struggling to rent a property in Bristol, and I'm just trying to understand where (if at all) I can push back at some of the rejection from Landlords and Agents.
So I know that letting agents themselves are not allowed to have a 'no DSS' policy anymore, but this seems to have been replaced by 'mortgage does not allow for DSS tenants'. Could anyone provide any more insight into the origin of this mortgage stipulation? Was there some legislature that I have completely missed and am unable to Google? 

Any help  and info would be appreciated!

Have a great day,

Jake

As far as I know, there's no legislation covering this. However, mortgage lenders are businesses first, and can decide with whom they will do business and on what terms. Not all buy-to-let mortgages will have a clause forbidding letting to benefit claimants but some will. You can't know if the landlord quoting this is telling the truth or just doesn't want the perceived hassle of letting to claimants. Landlords are also businesses first and can, with some exceptions, let to whomever they choose.

Have you spoken to a housing officer at your local Council? They will have details of local landlords willing to accept benefit claimants and can in some cases help with deposits.

jacob_pepworth

poppy12345 said:

I've lived in my current house for about 20 months and before i found this, i did look for many months. Then i stumbled across a letting agency close to where i live that do have properties for DSS tenants. The only issue is that they ask for a guarantor, which wasn't a problem for me but many people won't be able to get one.

For obvious reasons i won't mention the name of the agency because it will give away the area i live, which i won't disclose on any public forum.

Thankfully my current landlord has almost 100 properties and i've been told if i ever moved in the future then renting another property won't be a problem, providing i stay within 25 miles of where i currently live.

At the time, i couldn't find any legistation that states mortgage companies are unable to allow DDS tenants, having had another look now, i still couldn't find anything.

The issue is that benefits are usually paid in arrears and landlords usually want money in advance.

I've been privately renting for many years, with a few years inbetween of renting from social housing. I have found as the years progress, it just gets increasingly more difficult to find anyone that will accept us. We all seem to be "tarred with the same brush"

All i can advise is to keep looking and hopefully, you will be successful eventually.

Thank you, I will keep on trucking!! Just trying to understand the reasoning/legality of the situation. It's mad that I am financially more stable than when I was working, have saved to pay more rent upfront etc but get so few positive replies.

Glad your landlord is one of the decent ones

jacob_pepworth

Jude57 said:

jacob_pepworth said:

Hi everyone,

I've been struggling to rent a property in Bristol, and I'm just trying to understand where (if at all) I can push back at some of the rejection from Landlords and Agents.
So I know that letting agents themselves are not allowed to have a 'no DSS' policy anymore, but this seems to have been replaced by 'mortgage does not allow for DSS tenants'. Could anyone provide any more insight into the origin of this mortgage stipulation? Was there some legislature that I have completely missed and am unable to Google? 

Any help  and info would be appreciated!

Have a great day,

Jake

As far as I know, there's no legislation covering this. However, mortgage lenders are businesses first, and can decide with whom they will do business and on what terms. Not all buy-to-let mortgages will have a clause forbidding letting to benefit claimants but some will. You can't know if the landlord quoting this is telling the truth or just doesn't want the perceived hassle of letting to claimants. Landlords are also businesses first and can, with some exceptions, let to whomever they choose.

Have you spoken to a housing officer at your local Council? They will have details of local landlords willing to accept benefit claimants and can in some cases help with deposits.

Hi! Yeah, I know it's the way of the land, just trying to understand it a bit more. The council will refer you to a couple of agencies out of courtesy (I should know, I used to work there ) but they don't really have a list of UC-friendly landlords/agencies.

Thank you for your reply!

poppy12345

Jude57 said:

jacob_pepworth said:

Hi everyone,

I've been struggling to rent a property in Bristol, and I'm just trying to understand where (if at all) I can push back at some of the rejection from Landlords and Agents.
So I know that letting agents themselves are not allowed to have a 'no DSS' policy anymore, but this seems to have been replaced by 'mortgage does not allow for DSS tenants'. Could anyone provide any more insight into the origin of this mortgage stipulation? Was there some legislature that I have completely missed and am unable to Google? 

Any help  and info would be appreciated!

Have a great day,

Jake

Have you spoken to a housing officer at your local Council? They will have details of local landlords willing to accept benefit claimants and can in some cases help with deposits.

I've yet to find any of my past local Concils to have any such list.

peb

I've never read a Buy To Let offer of Mortgage finance which doesn't have this condition - whether the offers are permitted to have it is a different question

.   I used to read ten/twenty or so a week when dealing with BTL remortgages for a year or so.