Where is best value to rent when getting the new LHA

dmg24

mitchaa wrote: »

There's a £15pw excess limit DMG24. You cant get £200pw LHA, spend £100pw of that on rent and keep the other £100. You can spend £185pw on rent and keep the remaining £15pw though.

If i was a landlord, there's no way i would be renting to anyone on benefits.

Most estate agents will require proof of income and a job reference so people on benefits will still be victimised and rightly so.

There are too many scallies that will refuse to pay the rent, keep the LHA and it will be the landlord that suffers. I wonder with the temptation of having that extra money in the bank, people will fail to pay their rents and spend it on fags/booze and drugs.

Poor landlords is all ill say.

Yes, there is a £15pw limit on any possible excess payable, I didn't say that there wasn't? In the trials there was no limit on this excess, but I do credit anybody reading this with the intelligence to know that it would not normally be an unlimited amount.

It should be noted that there are situations where the rent may be paid directly to the landlord. These can be found in the link given by chickmug above.

Your other comments are not unique to LHA so not really relevant to the thread (or indeed the Benefits Board, as they are relating to the politics of receiving benefits).

suelees1

mitchaa wrote: »

....so people on benefits will still be victimised and rightly so....

That's an absolutely appalling comment

chickmug

dmg24 wrote: »

Do you have access to all the rents in the respective areas?

Do you mean the LHA in which case you can search of the LA web sites although often the LHA monthlyfigures are tucked well away. If you mean what's on the market I always use Rightmove.

mitchaa

suelees1 wrote: »

That's an absolutely appalling comment

Why??

Put your Landlords hat on now and tell me why this is an appalling attitude.

You see the victimisation every day, in papers, in estate agent windows, on the internet.

No DSS, you've probably seen it yourself

There is a reason as to why landlords do not want people that claim benefits renting out their property.

Like i said, put your landlords hat on. Would you want professional employed tenants who were trustworthy or a scrounging workshy family on benefits.

(BTW, i am not saying ALL people on benefits are scroungers and not trustworthy, but there will be a vast proportion who certainly are hence why you will all be tarred with the same brush)

Why take the risk? Working couple vs couple on benefits.

Why would you take the risk and rent out to the couple on benefits?

The LHA will not get round this. Landlords will ask for job references etc

Landlords need just as much protection as tenants!! Giving LHA direct to tenants, most landlords will say on your bike.

suelees1

I'd love to respond but agree with dmg24. This is the wrong forum to discuss politics.

mitchaa

suelees1 wrote: »

I'd love to respond but agree with dmg24. This is the wrong forum to discuss politics.

That's fine and im sure the majority of landlords up and down the country would agree

Fran

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peter999

mitchaa wrote: »

That's fine and im sure the majority of landlords up and down the country would agree

At the end of the day, Landlords want money.

That's why many Landlords have no choice but to let to people on benefits because:

-they are the only people that will take their properties

-they can let small properties or properties in poor condition to people on benefits without too many questions. Landlord doesn't have to spend lot of money doing property up for little return in rental income.

-many are reliable tenants
-housing benefit is paid like clockwork, so landlords get their money

If you're a landlord that has accomodation that only people on benefits will take, you will let to them.

It's all about money.

peter999

dmg24

chickmug wrote: »

Do you mean the LHA in which case you can search of the LA web sites although often the LHA monthlyfigures are tucked well away. If you mean what's on the market I always use Rightmove.

This is where your research is limited, as it would be for anyone without access to the figures used to determine the LHA (and these are pretty much impossible to get - I tried to get them for the figures used to determine the eligible rent for HB levels, and they even refused a FOI request).

Rightmove only represents a very small proportion of rented property in an area. Those properties that are already occupied are not listed on there, and many self managing landlords do not use Rightmove.

As an example, my old landlord had sixteen properties (self managed) for which he charged between £65 and £75 for each of. At the same time that I found that place (which was surprisingly lovely!), there were no properties below £90 a week on Rightmove, and very few below £100.

Also, my experience points to those that have been in rented properties to be paying lower rents than those that would move into an equivalent property now.

So whilst Rightmove is indicative of a selection of properties on the market, it cannot really be taken as indicative of the whole market, which is taken into account when determining the LHA.

anguk

jac/norm wrote: »

Not everyone on benefits are bad tenants. We are on benefits and have been in our private renetd house for 3 years now and in that time we have installed a new kitchen, bathroom and new front door along with decorating through out and new floors. We have never missed a payment in rent and it`s very unfair to say everyone is the same. Infact one of my sons friends who has a very well paid job left his last flat and had not paid the rent to his landlord for six months.

Same here, we've been in our private rented house for almost 6 years. We haven't put a new kitchen or bathroom in because the landlord did that just before we moved here but we have decorated from top to bottom and replaced the flooring. We also do any minor repairs so we're not bothering the landlord with them, if anything I'd say we've improved the house.

At the moment our housing benefit is paid direct to the landlord but if that changed and it went into our bank account instead it would be immediately paid to the landlord.

I understand that there are people out there who do miss their rent and just see their house as somewhere to live until they do a flit somewhere else and it would make landlords wary, but not everyone is like that. For me it isn't just a house it's my family's home.