No DSS, No Smokers, No Pets

[JustAnotherPoster00]

Sick of seeing those 3 on every single house I look at, I'm disabled (mainly MH related) and I need to move but can't simply because of those

Thanks to everyone for heir replies, I've been out all day so I'm gonna settle down and read all the replies, the ones that have stuck out are the

why dont you give up smoking or smoke outside

valid point about smoking outside but I kinda guessed that but as for getting rid of my dog not gonna happen and LA/Council cant help kinda burnt that bridge a few years ago before addressing my MH issues.

I smoke and wouldn't want a smoker in my property.
It stinks and ruins the decorating, which would need to be done more often.
it gets in carpets if the house is carpeted and is a fire risk with more expensive insurance.
I also wouldn't accept pets for the same reason, they stink if you aren't an animal lover and can take ages for the smell to go when a tenant leaves.
As for dss well, that would be decided after I'd met the person. I'd have no problem with somebody like my friend who can't work due to disability, needs good roots for her dd school, won't go in 6 months as committed to school and local community for friends for her and dd.
However, I have friends who let to dss and they completely wrecked the house and cost thousands in damages that the deposit went nowhere near to covering. She claimed on insurance and now her insurance is twice as much.
Also, some mortgages say you can't rent to dss/ accept hb.

i will probably be homeless by Christmas there is simply no were for my family to go.Just waiting for landlord to put together paper work to have us out which is fair they want the house back.

The moment i find a 2 bed any 2 bed for less than 700 a month in my area i cant get it.My partner works but we still get some housing benefit and we have two cats.

I can understand no DSS though in bedfordshire for example it can take many months to gain housing benefits whilst in the interim how do you pay rent .No way i am renting in bedfordshire ever again

I used to hate the no DSS but also understood it was to do with insurance or similar. I was a single mum at uni when I rented my last place. The landlord asked all kinds of questions like what i studied, where, and other random things like that. The place was an absolute hole as well, although I didn't realise that at the time! I had a pet too but she was a good girl and didn't cause problems

It's surely a personal thing though and also has been covered some insurances just don't allow for certain people.
FWIW, I'd let people smoke outside, it's what we do at home. With the proviso that all butts are removed.
I think some ll forget that to tenants it is their home and they would no more mess it up than you would yourself.
As for dss, there are lots of different benefits for different circumstances and I think future tenants should be judged on their individual circumstances rather than a blanket not accepted.

at a slight tangent, I now find that there is a bill going through Parliament (still a work in progress) which will define 'homeless' as 'the day the section 21 expires'. Thus the councils will be obliged to help from then, no court proceedings or eviction needed.

won't magic up more accommodation but it is a start.

If that is Bob Blackman's Private Member's Bill it will be blocked by the Government Whips. No Government of any party allows changes which would involve massive public expenditure, central or local, by Private Member's Bill.

Thus the councils will be obliged to help from then

We have a conservative government who - historically and currently - viscerally detest the idea (let alone the practice) of spending "public" money on the public.

The only change we are likely to see under this government is a removal of the obligation of the state to help anyone in need. Fucking scrougers.

The thing is if the state doesn't help people will start looking to erm other means of survival, crime rates, prostetution, fraud etc will rocket

Anyone else read the title and wonder why landlords would object to Darling Step Sons?

It would help if mortgage companies would say DSS allowed if landlord takes out suitable insurance, for example. My friends moved abroad with work and I manage their flat in London. They wanted to allow people on HB/disability benefits as well as pets. Their mortgage company was happy to have the place rented out, but no non-disability benefits allowed.

It's now the case there are two separate rental markets: one for people who can jump through hoops, and one that is more expensive for much less amenity, for anyone who doesn't. The current tenants looked online, saw lots of local 3-bed places for £1500-£1800, great for 3 sharers, but 99% of places wouldn't take them - one PhD student, one has two jobs, one earns under £30k. Only really grotty places would accept 'just' a month's deposit.

The thing is if the state doesn't help people will start looking to erm other means of survival, crime rates, prostetution, fraud etc will rocket

So ? Remember the Tory creed: There is no such thing as society ?

Anyway, high crime is music to the ears of the likes of G4S (and their |Tory non-exec directors) looking after the criminal justice system. Remember there are Tory MPs who feel prisons should make a profit .....

That's assuming the idiot we call a police force can catch them lol
If I was a local criminal looking at the ones we had to call out recently I could outrun the lot of them and I'm hardly fit, an 18 year old lad they wouldnt see for dust

oh well, forget it then. I did say that it won't magic up the extra accommodation that is needed due to a rocketing population and right-to-buy.

you have short memories if you think governments other than Tories will do anything!

I own a flat that I rent out. I started out really wanting to be flexible, but HB is just a nightmare. They stop it on the drop of a hat, it take ages to get reinstated and I wound up hideously out of pocket both times. I feel awful, but it is just so stressful never knowing when the rent will stop. I might do it again, but it would very much depend on the individual.

Smokers also left my place a total state. The smell took forever to get rid of, even after redecorating. I don't think I'd take that again. But I do allow pets. I would be a total hypocrite to keep cats and then refuse to let my tenants have the same. I do say they are liable for any pet related damages when they move out.

lalalalyra the cost of eviction thing with someone on HB works like this.....

Someone paying their own rent gets issued with 2 months notice to leave the property. They look for another property and pass all the credit checks and a LL will take them as they can afford the property. They move into their new home and LL gets their property back.

LL gives tenant on HB notice to leave. Tenant looks for a property but they can't pass credit checks and no LL's want to take them on as they are on HB, so they have no where to go. They then go to council and ask for a HA property. Council tells them in order to have the best chance of being housed, they MUST stay in their current rented property until the balliffs are literally at the door, physically evicting them.
The run up to this involves lost of stress / time / costs for the LL.

Hence a reason that means a lot of LL's are reluctant to take on anyone on HB.

Council tells them in order to have the best chance of being housed, they MUST stay in their current rented property until the balliffs are literally at the door, physically evicting them.

One fine day a bold and litigious LL will sue a council for procuring a breach of contract by telling people to stay put but not pay the rent. The councils just outsource their responsibilities onto private LLs. It is outrageous.

The council doesn't tell them to not pay then rent. Quite the opposite in fact as not paying your rent gives the Court a reason to issue the eviction notice, and also that would be another strike for the tenant "making themselves intentionally homeless"

They have to pay rent and that's when it's actually hard to get an eviction without a bloody good reason

'Hence a reason that means a lot of LL's are reluctant to take on anyone on HB.'

And also that the council can sue the LL for HB the tenant was not entitled to, just assuming the tenant actually paid the rent with the HB.

I'm not surprised a lot of LL's don't take it, much less pets or people who will smoke inside the home.

We have 4 BTL and rent to families with children and babies we advertise no smoking in house and have it written into the lease that any damage caused by smoking in property will be paid for by tenants on their departure. Although we advertise as no pets, we allow one family who are long term tenants and caused no problems over several years to have one small dog as they have signed to say they will make good any damage it does when they leave. I would not let to tenants claiming housing benefit as it breaches terms of our mortgage agreement but also believe people care for the property more if they are paying to rent it for themselves. We don't discriminate on basis of professional workers or not but who can pay rent.

We did once have an elderly disabled lady renter and made several adjustments to accommodate her and also had the expense of having them removed when her health deteriorated and she left to live with her daughter after 6 months.

At the end of the day we rent to tenants we like and charge less rather than accept those who would pay more but we don't like.

Personally I don't think no dhss, pets or smokers is being unreasonable.

I am all three and my LL has had continuous rent for over 14yrs without a break, without late payments & with only having to replace the (old when we moved in) cooker once & never having had to repaint (I paid for a repaint myself after 10yrs)

My son is now a teenager & so my LL has a future continual rent period for his spell in college (& beyond as we love living here)

So it might be all well & good it isn't really to bash those on benefits, or those with pets or addictions (or teens) but some LL do v well out of good tenants.

I think a recommendation site would be able to put good tenants (of whatever status) to good LL (and there are bad ones - our last was a fucking doozy removing washing machine, fridge & replacing outside door with an inside one! after we signed up.

Best advice - get a personal recommendation - and that's for both tenants & LL.

Sorry but the smoking thing I 100% agree with, I can smell cigarette smoke from inside someone else's car, there is no way I would want a smoker living in a house I owned and would worry about the amount of work it would take to get the smell out.

The pets thing is difficult, I mean a fish isn't going to be an issue but a massive dog would be, things like cats can be hit or miss, I mean mine wouldn't bother anyone but then I had a cat that was a nightmare once, so I do get it. I certainly wouldn't want to rent a house to a dog owner unless it was a toy bread, and another animals I would discuss first, but I can see it would be easier to just write no pets.

The no DSS seems a bit discriminatory though, I'm not really sure I understand the reasons other than The idea that DSS recipicants are sterotyoed as a certain type of person, I'm not sure what type, it seems very unfair, although I don't actually know what DSS is, is it a type of disability payment?

It's frustrating about the no DSS. I get that it's stated in some insurance policies but I've claimed HB (alongside working the whole time) for 10 years and never once missed a rent payment. Even when the council stopped my HB wrongly and it took 6 months for them to start paying me again.

Seems harsh but two family members who rent out a flat each (neither could sell at right time so rent covers mortgage - no landlords with portfolios here!) have had absolute nightmares with pets and smoking. We are all animal lovers and have a selection of dogs and cats between us but do not let them pee up the walls, poo on the carpets, tear up vinyl in the kitchen etc. This was the lucky experience of one, and the other, who had supplied nice sofas, chairs and curtains found they stank of smoke (in spite of tenants insisting they didn't) and sofa had two burns. By the time all of this was put right they were both a bit disillusioned. However, they have both had DSS tenants and there have been no problems - rent paid directly, nice people.