Private rental: Estate agent requiring tenants to earn certain amount to rent. How to get around.

GDB2222

CopyrightIssues said:

No notice given yet, very fair landlord, given me 3,4,5 months to find a place.  Has given me a letter for referencing purposes. I just do not know how to go about telling them I can do this as I have done for years.  I tell them this, but as soon as they hear I am on UC and DLA and a carer, it does not matter that I have enough coming in and can prove it.  It seem to me that estate agents want tenants to treat the place as a hotel and go out every night and never cook or 'live' in the place.

Given that the LL is being very fair to you, I would definitely try to be fair back. Tell the LL now about your problem. Go to the council about what’s going on and ask them to help. They won’t help, of course, until you are on the brink of eviction, but you can show the landlord that you are doing something about it. 

The landlord will probably issue a S21 notice straight away, which is the first step in the very long process of eviction. But I think that is fairer all round than waiting until he wants to sell and then telling him, and it makes no difference to you in the long run. Or, the landlord may have another solution. Who knows?

CopyrightIssues

Yes I agree not all people are good.

My argument on the issue is that just because they are 'in work' does not mean they always will.  The company could go down or they quit their job and the landlord would be in the same situation. yes the council pay 4 week in arrears, but I have the option to pay the whole term in advance and when I get the housing element paid I pay it back to my mate what he lent to top up what I already have.

I have told the LL 'everything' he knows my situation, which is why he has told me months in advance; he even hinted it before christmas. Then last month he called and told me he had to sell, it's to much to continue for him.

I am on openrent and thats how I got this flat.  I have a viewing today, Wednesday and one on Sunday. All asking a lot more than what I pay, but still affordable. I am a minimalist, and suits me fine.  Always cooking which saves me a lot.

As for the council housing... oh where do I start. Very vague, unhelpful, not giving much 'away'. Just told as you said, wait for S21, tell them. Wait for bailiffs. Go to council.

What I need to know is what happens 'next', but they don't want to tell me much more.

I am currently parttime working, a carer to a blind person (school friend - no chance of me staying there)

I have been told to use the fact that I am a carer as a reason to stay local even if it is a few miles, an hours bus ride, I'd take anything. I have a learning disability, which affect my understand of certain things that I previously knew nothing about.  Never had to do this 'ever'. Always had a roof over my head. I have in my younger years suffered with depression and was medicated for a short time, but did not like taking tablets unless I 'really' had to. So stopped them after talking to docs.  I found ways to get past the problems.  But homelessness is a completely different ball game.!

ognum

Could you get a guarantor if your income is not sufficient.  If you can pay then you will never need to use them

housebuyer143

CopyrightIssues said:

Yes I agree not all people are good.

My argument on the issue is that just because they are 'in work' does not mean they always will.  The company could go down or they quit their job and the landlord would be in the same situation. yes the council pay 4 week in arrears, but I have the option to pay the whole term in advance and when I get the housing element paid I pay it back to my mate what he lent to top up what I already have.

I have told the LL 'everything' he knows my situation, which is why he has told me months in advance; he even hinted it before christmas. Then last month he called and told me he had to sell, it's to much to continue for him.

I am on openrent and thats how I got this flat.  I have a viewing today, Wednesday and one on Sunday. All asking a lot more than what I pay, but still affordable. I am a minimalist, and suits me fine.  Always cooking which saves me a lot.

As for the council housing... oh where do I start. Very vague, unhelpful, not giving much 'away'. Just told as you said, wait for S21, tell them. Wait for bailiffs. Go to council.

What I need to know is what happens 'next', but they don't want to tell me much more.

I am currently parttime working, a carer to a blind person (school friend - no chance of me staying there)

I have been told to use the fact that I am a carer as a reason to stay local even if it is a few miles, an hours bus ride, I'd take anything. I have a learning disability, which affect my understand of certain things that I previously knew nothing about.  Never had to do this 'ever'. Always had a roof over my head. I have in my younger years suffered with depression and was medicated for a short time, but did not like taking tablets unless I 'really' had to. So stopped them after talking to docs.  I found ways to get past the problems.  But homelessness is a completely different ball game.!

If you can afford the rent upfront, that is your selling point I would say. So really press that point. It's definitely hard for low earners as well with no benefits. My sister didn't claim anything but didn't earn enough to get into any house she needed, so always lost out to the 10 people ahead of her. In the end some luck was that her mate wanted to leave his house early and she took it over. 

What happens next is once the balifs turn up at your door, the council will put you in accommodation, as a single person is a bedsit, a hostel or a b&b. It's not nice and not something you really want to do - however those that take this route eventually will be rehoused into "suitable" accommodation.

CurlySue2017

housebuyer143 said:

CurlySue2017 said:

Just because someone has money, it doesn't mean that they will be a good tenant or pay the rent, that is never guaranteed.  A lot of these "nightmare tenant" situations end up being people who have plenty of money and on paper are the model tenant, but once they are in, they cause no end of problems and when finally evicted, they simply move on with all their money and do the same to some other landlord. 

Of course not all council tenants are bad and not all rich self sufficient tenants are good, but tenant aside, the council make it unappealing to rent to benefit tenants. A few things come to mind - 
1. They will always advise a tenant not to leave a property 
2. They pay 4 weekly and in arrears.
3. If you are getting a paper bond,I have known the council inspect the property and pick up things and then make the landlord fix them. One was to redo the whole kitchen because they didn't feel escape access was sufficient. 
4. You can't get rent guarantee insurance etc. 

If you had the choice to take someone working who passes all the references then I don't see why a landlord wouldn't. 

You might find private rentals not through an agent your best bet. Falling that, the council will advise not to leave and they will have to put you in accommodation of some kind once the landlord has started court proceedings.

I agree with you on all your numbered points - councils can be a real PITA and cause more problems than they solve!!

It's just the bit in bold......
They may be working now, but things change. 
They may pass references and still turn out to be awful tenants (they are vetted by agents, who are themselves generally not very good IME).
They may have the money and simply refuse to pay because they know they have the upper hand. 

I was simply saying that just because someone has money, it doesn't guarantee that they will be a good tenant and pay the rent

propertyrental

Can you offer someone to act as guarantor?

Kim_13

CurlySue2017 said:

housebuyer143 said:

CurlySue2017 said:

Just because someone has money, it doesn't mean that they will be a good tenant or pay the rent, that is never guaranteed.  A lot of these "nightmare tenant" situations end up being people who have plenty of money and on paper are the model tenant, but once they are in, they cause no end of problems and when finally evicted, they simply move on with all their money and do the same to some other landlord. 

Of course not all council tenants are bad and not all rich self sufficient tenants are good, but tenant aside, the council make it unappealing to rent to benefit tenants. A few things come to mind - 
1. They will always advise a tenant not to leave a property 
2. They pay 4 weekly and in arrears.
3. If you are getting a paper bond,I have known the council inspect the property and pick up things and then make the landlord fix them. One was to redo the whole kitchen because they didn't feel escape access was sufficient. 
4. You can't get rent guarantee insurance etc. 

If you had the choice to take someone working who passes all the references then I don't see why a landlord wouldn't. 

You might find private rentals not through an agent your best bet. Falling that, the council will advise not to leave and they will have to put you in accommodation of some kind once the landlord has started court proceedings.

I agree with you on all your numbered points - councils can be a real PITA and cause more problems than they solve!!

It's just the bit in bold......
They may be working now, but things change. 
They may pass references and still turn out to be awful tenants (they are vetted by agents, who are themselves generally not very good IME).
They may have the money and simply refuse to pay because they know they have the upper hand. 

I was simply saying that just because someone has money, it doesn't guarantee that they will be a good tenant and pay the rent

But if they have money, they cannot refuse to pay indefinitely. A court will be able to force them to pay (and make an order of costs) provided the LL has the appropriate evidence to prove their case, whereas if you rent to someone with no or limited assets, you won't see the amount owed, whether it is owed in unpaid rent or damages or both.

If you say to a nightmare tenant with money that you need to sell, they will just go and do the same to another LL, since they tick the boxes on paper and will be given a property. No LL will give a bad reference, since if you have a nightmare tenant you no longer wish to rent to, you would be stuck with them for longer if you were to be honest when asked for a reference. 

OP clearly has the best of intentions, but the council make them an unappealing tenant since if the LL were to need the property back, they will incur costs, the OP doesn't have the means to pay them and the council will not, so the LL is out of pocket. They are more appealing than others who cannot pay the rent until UC pay in arrears, but less appealing than those passing the paper checks. Circumstances change, but while there are more people needing to rent than there are properties available to rent, the LL can take their pick of prospective tenants and the more assurances you have (e.g. tenant has been in the same well paying job for X years, rent guarantee insurance obtainable, a guarantor) the better the odds that the rent will continue to come in on time and that there will be no other problems.

Currently the OP's friend loans him money so that the LL receives the rent in a timely manner, but he could decide to stop doing that tomorrow (and might do so if UC were to stop paying for a few months, erroneously or otherwise, since he would be more and more out of pocket with each month that OP couldn't repay him.) The friend has no liability to the LL and does not have to pay any costs that he/she may incur. Most LLs don't have any housing element paid directly to them, since the Government believe it is good for the claimant to have the responsibility of paying, so anyone able to claim for help with housing costs could start pocketing this - and there is no rent guarantee insurance possible as mentioned above.

I'm not sure on the exact mechanics but if you are able to have the housing element voluntarily paid to a prospective LL, it may help to give them the option of that or your ability to pay the rent in advance via your arrangement with your friend.

Alderbank

propertyrental said:

Can you offer someone to act as guarantor?

The obvious choice would be your mate who lends to you each month to make sure the rent is paid on time.

Would they do it?

Bookworm105

"discrimination" against UC is partly because of the risk the council would come after the landlord for refund of money if at a later date there was an "error" in the UC entitlement and an overpayment claim arose.

Overpayment of Universal Credit and Housing Benefit | NRLA

amanda1024

Would the landlord be willing to sell with a sitting tenant?