To want to give up on private renting completely..

[Bornfizzle]

Hi all

I've just recently given birth and due to unforeseen circumstances I'm going to have to look for a home to rent privately but this is proving to be an impossible task as most landlords are listing in their ads "no dss" or "no housing benefit", some for homes that are 300 a month and under so I am no way looking too far out of my price range. The LHA in Belfast NI is roughly 363 for a two bed.

I know some landlord's mortgages don't permit tenants who are getting housing benefit but after surfing the subject for a while on MN and other sites there seem to be those landlords who tar anyone who is getting benefits as scroungers who will ruin their property and spend their rent money on drugs, alcohol ....you name it! I understand being spurned by previous tenants but surely blanketing us all is slightly unfair!

I am in no way any of those things and only want a place to call home for my DC.

Sorry for the rant ...after DP abandoning us at the last minute and a difficult pregnancy everything just seems hopeless. Waiting list for council housing for non priority is roughly 3 years, even waiting for a hostel would take a good while....I just feel like crying and screaming all a at once!

Why do you think you are non-priority for council housing? You have children and should be classed as having priority need.

Appletini - In most places just having children does not make you a priority need.

I had a private rental arranged.
I was to be entirely on benefits, LL was aware.
I had hoped for a guarantor but was unable to provide one but I provided a written list of all my benefits which were well able to cover the rent, utilities etc.
3 days prior, with a signed contract in existence, LL refused to hand over keys.
I had changed my childrens schools, changed my benefits, arranged the removal, everything.
I can 'pursue LL through the small claims court' according to Shelter.
Yes, but now I cant get legal aid either.

It stinks.

In a situation like yours firstchoice, if the council had agreed to act as your guarantor then your landlord would have got the assurance he needed and you would have go the home you needed. The risk would have been taken by the council, and as you would probably have been a brilliant tenant, they wouldn't have lost anything. But if they had, then they'd have been in a better position to deal with it than a landlord.

This is why I think councils and the government should take more responsibility for housing their citizens.

Yes, its disgusting that you had to go through that firstchoice . It is a scandal.

As a land Lord I can confirm that both my mortgage and insurance state I cannot let it my property to people who claim hb.

However I do alow children and pets (though the latter requires an extra deposit) .

I don't agree necessarily with local authorities bank rolling landlords into taking people on hb. However the local authority i used to live in used to have a system where landlords could lease properties to the council. The council took responsibility for repairs, the rental income was guaranteed but that income was lower than could be earned on the private market.

WooWoo - No local authorities should build social housing. A lot of taxpayers money is wasted paying housing benefit to private landlords to make money. It is way way cheaper for taxpayers, and much better for tenants, to simply build more social housing.

Like I already said, I agree that they need to build more social housing. But there are some areas that don't have much space left to build anyway, even if councils were inclined to build it.

So when enough social housing just isn't going to be built for everyone that needs it, and however much they build there will always be more demand, then want do you suggest should happen to make sure people get the homes they need?

And again, housing benefit is not paid to private landlords. It is paid to people who cannot afford to provide their own housing without government assistance. Personally, I don't think housing people is a waste of money.

Soapbox, I think the council you speak of has the right idea. Ours wouldn't do that. But as a landlord, I'd happily take a lower rental income each month to know that repairs would be done by the council and the rent I was owed would be guaranteed. I'm sure lots of landlords would.

femin When you say simply build more social housing you are indulging in TommyCoppery - "Just like that".

Nothing simple about it. LAs have to compete for the land with private developers and land is not cheap anywhere. Even if they use a CPO they have to pay market value (and quite right too) and then building takes time.

In the meantime, more LLs will accept HB tenants (subject to the mortgagee permitting and many won't) if they know the LA will guarantee the rent. When people are living hand to mouth the rent is not always top of the priority list.

Four-bed and the LL says no children? Why would the LL accept children if there are applicants who are all adults out at work?

And that leaves animals. Don't get me started. If it is easier to house your children, your real family, without pets then the pets must go.

Totally agree with the comments about social housing.

Thinking practically, OP would you be solely reliant on Housing Benefit or is there anything you can do to be able to pay some of the rent yourself? When I was looking I found that I contacts private landlords directly and explained that I was working but jut didn't earn quite enough and would need to claim a top up at least half were prepared to consider it with a deposit etc. That was private landlords through gumtree, local media etc though rather than agencies. I also offered to let landlords come and visit me at my previous home so that they could see I was maintaining a good standard. It shouldn't have to be like that all, but sadly it is all about proving yourself.

It is a horrible situation I found somewhere eventually luckily but it was a lot of work.

"As for animals, forget it, why would any LL allow that?"

Because some landlords actually do have empathy for other humans beings, Andrew.

Sorry for typo's I was going back to correct and pressed send by mistake (on app.) Meant to edit to clarify that I meant out of the landlords that I contacted that had placed adverts stating no DSS half were prepared to consider a top up when I explained my situation, and stressed that I had a deposit was looking for a long term let etc. So worth trying.

Pets do add to wear and tear though, I know mine does in my own home. And as landlords can't take money from a deposit for wear and tear, it's reasonable that many of them say no pets.

Landlords will often say no pets, but will the allow some if asked. There's a big difference between a rabbit and an Alsatian.

Yes, that's fair enough WooWoo. A good landlord considers each case on individual merits, rather than seeing tenants as 5 foot high pound signs.

Hi OP. try local papers, gumtree and facebook selling pages. Private LLs advertising on those pages tend to have fewer exclusions than those letting through an agency. Also put an update on your own facebook page asking friends to share it. There are LL who take DSS and children and pets. I have been renting for 9 years with pets and small children (3 properties) and have never had to pay an increased deposit or lost any of my deposit due to damages or anything. These LL do exist but it might just take a but more time and effort to find them. Main thing is to get the word out locally so when people hear of a house they let you know. Good luck.

CBA to read all the usual anti-landlord bile. No-one is saying all benefits recipients are a social underclass.

renting out property is a business. If the business does not make enough money, it goes bust. The property is then repossessed and the tenant homeless.

One or two facts.

first, OP - many agents put 'no DSS' as default, but some landlords are in a position to take those fully or partly on benefits. Ask. Put yourself in the landlord's position, think what they want to know to see you as a good tenant, answer those questions.

firstchoice - you were badly treated by one person who broke the law, we discussed. That does not mean that all landlords stink. I hope you get recompense because how you were treated was (literally) criminal.

animals - the damage they can do far outweighs any possible deposits. Landlords who have been burnt by this (as I have) will be reluctant to take animals in future. BTW this was cats, which I thought would be great as they don't bark or chew. I discovered that they WRECK carpets and woodwork with their claws. They also excrete on carpets when elderly, necessitating full replacement (of a year-old carpet) plus underlay. So no more cats in my rental. Dogs are a possible if the tenant works from home.

and yes, selling off the social housing was and is a bad idea.

And yes, some ads say no pets but the LL will allow sometimes if you ask them in person.

WoowooOwl they don't do it anymore as we would have taken up the offer for our property. I don't know why they stopped it.

I handed an agent a holding deposit for a flat when 6 months pregnant. Then they decided they wanted a guarantor. I couldn't do that, a d they kept my money. I was too stressed to even pursue it at the time, but I still think about that years later.
OP where are you living now?
Please get registered with the council, and get their list of housing associations too. Also, as some one mentioned, most councils have a list of approved private landlords, and they will even help you with a deposit.

None of this helps OP. there's a fundamental problem with ppl who do need the support of the benefits system not actually being able to use that money t buy somewhere decent to live, because the only LLs that will accept them are ppl with no insurance or mortgage conditions, or ppl that,more likely, don't care about breaching them.

I believe that a lot of rogue LLs are operating below the radar- they avoid their taxes, they break regulations on gas and electrical safety, and they operate uninsured by taking HB claimants when they aren't meant to.

Insurance companies could help by accepting guarantees from councils and direct remission of HB as reasons to extend their cover to allow tenants who are not earning, or who claim HB.

As for pets and children and business, well there will always be LLs who operate a "vanilla" business model but there will be others who offer a more nuanced service, and who are rewarded by high quality and loyal tenants who take a real pride in the home and look after it, because they know that not everyone will listen. I live in a house connected to work and rent out the house we have to retire to. Some of my best tenants had been rejected by LLs for having a big soppy dog, but they paid a double deposit (which they actually got back, every penny) and had the carpets steam cleaned when they moved out. And I know another ll who has got a beautiful house where he refuses to have kids. He has suffered a nine month void which is unheard of round here, and serves him right.

It's OK to read the thread, Special - there wasn't any anti-landlord bile, just people discussing individual cases.

#notALLlandlords

But agree with pp, I would only take a dog if there was someone home during the day with it. And I would think twice about cats, much as I love them.

My landlord takes pets if you pay a very large deposit, which I think is fair enough.

I'm sorry you are in this situation, as everyone has said, why not chat with the letting agents and let them know your situation, they will know who is more flexible than not, and also if you contact directly through ads these people are sometimes more flexible.

It is getting to the stage though, that there are almost no tenancies for HB, people with children, people with pets. It's a nightmare and not one of your making.

Yeah, I can see that if I owned a property I'd instinctively want to protect it from chewing and crap ... That's natural. So I see the landlord's point of view.

The root cause probably is loss of social housing, as others have said. In much of the Netherlands people rent for life from government-regulated associations, and can treat the house as their own. And there's no stigma to '"council housing".