A question for landlords, do you have blanket policies or are you open to discussion

Benefits_Blagger

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

b) the landlord had a choice to have the rent paid straight to them.

.

despite knowing that most LL's are scum, i have to agree the rent should be straight to them, their is no need for the tenant to have the money at any stage.

better protection for LL's would encourage more of them to take on DSS tenants.

mlz1413

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

Well, for a start the fact that the prospective tenant won't be able to give an employers reference would be a bit of a give away. :rolleyes:

one of them may work or both work but low incomes/part time
They may get benefits for a child and/or disabilities.

dmg24

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I think landlords would take on more SS tenants if

a) the rent was paid promptly at the start of the tenancy instead of taking months and
b) the landlord had a choice to have the rent paid straight to them.

As others have said, they are not a charity and still have ther own bills and expenses to pay and quite often literally can't afford to wait for the benefits to pay up.

The LA will still pay the LL directly if requested to do so by the tenant, in the same way as with HB.

Benefits_Blagger

dmg24 wrote: »

The LA will still pay the LL directly if requested to do so by the tenant, in the same way as with HB.

this is very much harder to do now under the new LHA rules, even if the tenant agrees to have it paid direct to the LL, there is a whole plethora of conditions to be satisified and only in extreme cases will they decide to pay the LL direct.

dmg24

Benefits_Blagger wrote: »

this is very much harder to do now under the new LHA rules, even if the tenant agrees to have it paid direct to the LL, there is a whole plethora of conditions to be satisified and only in extreme cases will they decide to pay the LL direct.

Not true. A quick letter to the council and they will do it. I have seen it done in practice, and at two different LA's.

Geenie

Benefits_Blagger wrote: »

despite knowing that most LL's are scum, i have to agree the rent should be straight to them, their is no need for the tenant to have the money at any stage.

better protection for LL's would encourage more of them to take on DSS tenants.

We let to families with pets and are more interested in long term tenants who will look after the property and don't charge excessive rent. I'm afraid that our experience of DSS tenants is that they wreck the place so it takes 3 months to put the house right after, can't even be bothered to clear their garbage from the garden, even when we have arranged for someone to cut the grass every week, and don't give a monkeys because someone else is paying for it all. We are about to get rid of our last DSS tenants, because despite giving them a 2nd chance, they have done exactly the same thing and have trashed a lovely house. We will not let to DSS again. There are some scum tenants out there as well.

Benefits_Blagger

Geenie wrote: »

. We will not let to DSS again. There are some scum tenants out there as well.

maybe we could put all the scum tenants and scum LL's together, that way they can both have fun trying to see how much they can put the other out of pocket.

Vincenzo

dmg24 wrote: »

Not true. A quick letter to the council and they will do it. I have seen it done in practice, and at two different LA's.

Not my experience in a South London Borough. I considered taking on DSS but only if the rent was paid direct. This could not be arranged so I refused.

Another point that put me off DSS - it came to my attention that if Housing Benefit is claimed by the tenants' illegally, the Landlord could potentially be pursued for its return. I still cannot quite believe that but have had it confirmed from a number of sources. Either way, why get involved?

Back to the OP. I only have one property I let now but would not accept DSS, pets or smokers. No problem with kids though.

That said, so far this property has let easily without voids. Were that to change, the above criteria may have to with it.

Bungarm2001

"The LA will still pay the LL directly if requested to do so by the tenant, in the same way as with HB."

Errrrr..no actually. It isn't as easy as that.Even at the tenants request to have the LHA rent paid direct to the LL, there will have to be evidence produced by a variety of individuals to prove that the tenant is 'likely to have difficulty paying thr rent' for various reasons, including learning disabilities, certain medical conditions, iliiteracy, addiction, people leaving prison etc etc The list is quite long and as far as I understand it, open to alteration or addition at any time.

The whole process is pretty complicated..it certainly isn't a matter of the tenant getting up one day and deciding they would like the LHA to be paid directly to the LL. Make no mistake, LHA differs from HB in many ways.

Benefits_Blagger

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

"The LA will still pay the LL directly if requested to do so by the tenant, in the same way as with HB."

Errrrr..no actually. It isn't as easy as that.Even at the tenants request to have the LHA rent paid direct to the LL, there will have to be evidence produced by a variety of individuals to prove that the tenant is 'likely to have difficulty paying thr rent' for various reasons, including learning disabilities, certain medical conditions, iliiteracy, addiction, people leaving prison etc etc The list is quite long and as far as I understand it, open to alteration or addition at any time.

The whole process is pretty complicated..it certainly isn't a matter of the tenant getting up one day and deciding they would like the LHA to be paid directly to the LL. Make no mistake, LHA differs from HB in many ways.

that is exactly what i read aswell from having a peruse over the guidelines for LHA.

from what i understand is that it works like an appeals process, i.e. the tenant is always paid LHA direct regardless and the LL has to appeal against this by producing evidence why it shouldn't, e.g. arrears, even then the tenant has to be on the verge of being evicted for the LL to be paid the LHA direct.

however i should point out that the stuff i read was when the LHA was under it trial phase. things may have changed with the national roll out if these conditions were causing problems.