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

clutton_2

the vast majority of my tenants are on benefits - nearly all single parent mums, some disabled older folks. I take enormous care in vetting them - they HAVE to have a deposit, altho i have allowed a 50% deposit up front and the remainder paid over the next three months; they have to have good references, and they have to have a guarantor. I take children, but very rarely pets. i assess each person on their own merits and have refused some benefits folks who have the "rent - it aint anyfink to do with me guv" attitude.

i can usually tell on the phone from the initial enquiry which tenants will be willing to jump thru all the admin hoops i need them to.

i have only had one problem benefit tenant - and that was because she got in with the wrong crowd after several months and others caused damage to the property - but we had a chat and she decided to leave of her accord - much easier for us both.


i will go to huge trouble initially to set up a tenancy properly - helping with form filling, phone calls, etc etc - i figure it might as well be right from the beginning. if i make it easy for tenants to pay me the rent , they will - if its not easy - they wont.

LHA in one area i invest in is to be paid 2 weeks in arrears - yet another different payment schedule !! I insist that LHA tenants have two bank accounts and i need to see bank statements for both - LHA into one account and then standing ordered over into my account, and they have a separate account altogether for their own personal benefit.

i agree that the number of properties available to benefit tenants as a result of LHA is almost inevitably going to reduce - only time will tell

subjecttocontract

I do feel however it's a shame that many landlords may be missing out on some extremely good tenants because of blanket policies and not treating each person/couple/family as the people they are rather than the system they are stuck in

Its probably a shame for the tenants but NOT for the landlord. Demand for rental property outstrips supply.......and demand will continue to grow. So, there are lots of top quality tenants who can tick all of the boxes. In this situation why would I consider a person who doesn't meet the criteria I've set ? What would be the advantage for me ?

In some respects its similar to applying for a new job vacancy. The job requires a certain number of qualifications. They won't by themselves get you the job but they will get you an interview. Without the qualifications you won't even get through the door.

Geenie

subjecttocontract wrote: »

I do feel however it's a shame that many landlords may be missing out on some extremely good tenants because of blanket policies and not treating each person/couple/family as the people they are rather than the system they are stuck in

Its probably a shame for the tenants but NOT for the landlord. Demand for rental property outstrips supply.......and demand will continue to grow. So, there are lots of top quality tenants who can tick all of the boxes. In this situation why would I consider a person who doesn't meet the criteria I've set ? What would be the advantage for me ?

In some respects its similar to applying for a new job vacancy. The job requires a certain number of qualifications. They won't by themselves get you the job but they will get you an interview. Without the qualifications you won't even get through the door.

I agree. We let property in a lovely village just 15 minutes from a city but with an excellent rated village school, PO and pubs so never any problem getting tenants, infact we have waiting lists of people who would like to be considered when one becomes available. We particularly go for young families and don't have any problems with paintwork getting grubby or penmarks etc, as have had children ourselves so know you have to expect certain wear and tear with families.

Vincenzo

clutton wrote: »

the vast majority of my tenants are on benefits - nearly all single parent mums, some disabled older folks. I take enormous care in vetting them - they HAVE to have a deposit, altho i have allowed a 50% deposit up front and the remainder paid over the next three months; they have to have good references, and they have to have a guarantor. I take children, but very rarely pets. i assess each person on their own merits and have refused some benefits folks who have the "rent - it aint anyfink to do with me guv" attitude.

i can usually tell on the phone from the initial enquiry which tenants will be willing to jump thru all the admin hoops i need them to.

i have only had one problem benefit tenant - and that was because she got in with the wrong crowd after several months and others caused damage to the property - but we had a chat and she decided to leave of her accord - much easier for us both.

i will go to huge trouble initially to set up a tenancy properly - helping with form filling, phone calls, etc etc - i figure it might as well be right from the beginning. if i make it easy for tenants to pay me the rent , they will - if its not easy - they wont.

LHA in one area i invest in is to be paid 2 weeks in arrears - yet another different payment schedule !! I insist that LHA tenants have two bank accounts and i need to see bank statements for both - LHA into one account and then standing ordered over into my account, and they have a separate account altogether for their own personal benefit.

i agree that the number of properties available to benefit tenants as a result of LHA is almost inevitably going to reduce - only time will tell

That sounds like far too much hassle to me. Presumably these properties are in council/ex-council blocks and DSS are the only tenants available? Otherwise, what would be the point in going through all that?

I take a low-risk attitude. I have Landlord's rental guarantee insurance so my tenants have to meet the strict criteria for that. There are far too many pitfalls in letting to DSS tenants. Having said that the yields on these types of properties will tend to be much higher. But you get nothing for nothing!

lil_me

subjecttocontract I suppose it depends where you are in the country as to how supply and demand relate to each other. I live in County Durham, many properties we looked at almost a year ago who refused us because of the animals are still empty and they have lowered the rent, many offering first months rent half price and other such incentives. The call from the agent about one property which we were refused due to the pets rang back offering it to us with the pets and with lower rent, that's the second one to change their mind when it is too late. Most of those still empty were nice homes, but they so far seem to have on average reduced the rent by at least £100, maybe it's that they are too fussy who they have in them which is why they are empty a year later (at least) Bit annoying that I can get a 4/5 bedroom home for what I am paying (in some cases less than what I am paying) for a 3 at the minute because of the drops in price since. Hey ho can't win them all.

mlz1413

I was very surprised at the amount of LL posting on here who have had a bad experience of benefit tenants, when you consider what a small percentage of us post on here it doesn't bode well!

lil_me

mlz1413 wrote: »

I was very surprised at the amount of LL posting on here who have had a bad experience of benefit tenants, when you consider what a small percentage of us post on here it doesn't bode well!

I am suprised in a way, but on the other hand the amount of people on benefits who rent privately is huge so there must be many who don't object. I suppose there is also the fact that more will mention a 'bad experience' than a 'good experience' online. Complaints are always voiced louder than compliments.

clutton_2

""Presumably these properties are in council/ex-council blocks and DSS are the only tenants available?"


you presume utterly wrongly vincenzo - i own very good standard two up two down terraced property in areas of high demand from professionals as well as benefit folks - my single parent mums know a good landlady when they get me - and stay with me for years - and get boyfriends to do odd jobs - so i am well pleased with the initial work i put into setting up a HB tenancy as once the payments start - they just carry on - we will have to see if the LHA tenant is just as reliable.......

Vincenzo

clutton wrote: »

""Presumably these properties are in council/ex-council blocks and DSS are the only tenants available?"


you presume utterly wrongly vincenzo - i own very good standard two up two down terraced property in areas of high demand from professionals as well as benefit folks - my single parent mums know a good landlady when they get me - and stay with me for years - and get boyfriends to do odd jobs - so i am well pleased with the initial work i put into setting up a HB tenancy as once the payments start - they just carry on - we will have to see if the LHA tenant is just as reliable.......

Fair enough. I am still not sure I understand the benefit (excuse the pun). If you can let to professionals, would you not rather do so?

Benefits_Blagger

let's not beat about the bush with this, but the fact is the vast majority of people on benefits are scum and live like animals and thats comming from me, the benefits blagger.

however there is a minoroty of people on benefits who are decent people, people who have ended up on benefits because life has dealt them a bad hand. e.g. a proffessional who has had to give up work because of illness.

as clutton has shown, if you do the due diligence you find these tenants.

as for the benefit of having benefits tenants if you can find the decent ones ? well for a start they don't have a job to lose in the first place, i.e. these tenants are recession proof.

like anything in the housing game, if you do the work and research then you are rewarded for it.