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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To accept tenants with DLA?

281 replies

thatverynightinmaxsroom · 14/09/2017 09:51

I'm a LL of an inherited property, not a professional landlord, and I'm really very ignorant about this.

I've been asked if I'd accept a tenant whose rent would be paid directly by DLA.

Is there any reason I wouldn't or shouldn't accept?!

OP posts:
SunSeptember · 14/09/2017 11:52

I am tempted to say the government should intervene and make it illegal to discriminate against those in receipt of benefits

I agree with this I have been on both sides however - the government but also then guarantees to pay the LL the rent. Pay deposits and so on and make it iron clad that the LL will not be left out of pocket then I am sure in turn the LL will be more relaxed about renting.

Coastalcommand · 14/09/2017 11:56

Please do consider accepting. Disabled people need homes too!

MrsSquiggler · 14/09/2017 12:08

@SunSeptember, maybe going back to paying HB direct to landlords as the default would go some way to achieving this.

Wendigoed · 14/09/2017 12:14

Accept it, the tenant is letting you know they are in receipt of benefits due to long term disability not unemployability - this is as stable a situation as you are going to get from a tenant surely?

PopcornBits · 14/09/2017 12:23

I think you've read and interpreted this wrong OP.
The message says that the tenant is in receipt of Housing benefit/Local housing allowance DUE to being on DLA.

The payments are not coming from DLA, the payments will come from the Local Authority.
If it's Local Housing Allowance that they're claiming then yes this does get paid directly to you, every month.
If it's Housing Benefit, then this gets paid directly to the tenant.
So you should be asking whether they're receiving Housing benefit or Local Housing Allowance.

I think its terrible that LL's discriminate against people on benefits. They're not all bad people, and some are just on it for a short time so that they can find work. People should be given a chance.

EvilDoctorBallerinaDuckKeidis · 14/09/2017 12:26

It depends on the disability. DS1 would need no alterations.

Redpony1 · 14/09/2017 12:27

Mortgage type & insurance is a major factor in not accepting tenants on benefits, I'm not sure what people are not understanding about that.

My brother tried to find insurance without that clause, and it was quadruple the cost! So he had no choice other than to not accept HB claimants.

bluejelly · 14/09/2017 12:33

Just to say my partner is a landlord who rented out his house to 4 people on housing benefit last Dec. 3 of them now have jobs and are paying rent themselves. The other is studying hard. There has never been any problem with their claims. Renting to people on benefits is a lifeline for them and has enabled them to get back on their feet financially. And hasn't caused us any problems either.

LilaBard · 14/09/2017 12:44

Amazed to hear that a reason for being on DLA is because you can't budget. There was me thinking my dad got it cos his legs don't work, but every day is a school day etc.

opheliacat · 14/09/2017 12:46

Don't be ignorant, Lila

LilaBard · 14/09/2017 12:48

Don't think I'm the ignorant one on this thread actually

DanHumphreyIsA · 14/09/2017 12:48

@lila I dont know if you could get PIP solely based on that, but its definitely a section in the assessment. I think its used to assess mental health/capability rather than being shit with money, its just worded that way.
When I took a claimant to their assessment, they focused a lot on the questions about budgeting/decision making.

ItsAllAboutThePace · 14/09/2017 12:55

I doubt any change of laws can force a landlord to have someone he didn't want living in his house though?

No landlord will directly say it's because of disibility/benefits..... he will simply choose a working 'professional' or whatever

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 14/09/2017 12:55

I dont know if you could get PIP solely based on that

No you couldn't. It's points worth isn't enough.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 14/09/2017 12:56

No landlord will directly say it's because of disibility/benefits..... he will simply choose a working 'professional' or whatever

Hmm

Someone can be a working professional and on DLA/PIP

dramallamakarma · 14/09/2017 12:57

Some of my previous tenants were on DLA (partner was on carers allowance as far as I'm aware).

Never missed a rent payment but they didn't stay very long (about 10 months) before they were offered council accommodation.

I've also had a tenant who was in full time employment that lost their job & missed the last couple of months rent.

I'm not a professional LL.... it seemed tenants are luck of the draw IME whether receiving benefits or not.

Viviennemary · 14/09/2017 13:00

I agree that the agency should be advising you on whether these people would make suitable tenants. It's always a risk. Sometimes the seemingly most respectable and reasonable of folk can turn out nightmares and others you may think they're a bit dodgy are fine. I would certainly consider these from what you've said. I wouldn't be so happy to take people who needed a guarantor.

LakieLady · 14/09/2017 13:03

If it's Local Housing Allowance that they're claiming then yes this does get paid directly to you, every month.
If it's Housing Benefit, then this gets paid directly to the tenant.
So you should be asking whether they're receiving Housing benefit or Local Housing Allowance.

No-one receives LHA. It's not a benefit, it's a cap on the amount of HB that can be paid to private tenants, in a given area, according to the size of property the claimant is entitled to.

safariboot · 14/09/2017 13:08

Unless the decision is forced upon you by someone else (eg insurers), you are being a douchebag if you reject a tenant because they are disabled. Contact their previous landlords for a reference like you would with any tenant.

BarbarianMum · 14/09/2017 13:08

DLA wouldn't bother me, and it legally can't bother the mortgage company or insurance provider. I don't rent to people who need HB to pay the rent, since the great Sheffield HB meltdown (early 2000s, hb payments stopped for 10 months).

Laiste · 14/09/2017 13:13

Less people would have to claim housing benefit if the rents weren't so high.

When an average working household has to claim housing benefit from the council to top up their income enough to pay for a roof over their head the council is basically lining the pockets of the private LLs.

Ironically the same LLs are then turning their bloody noses up at people on HB! Hmm

artisancraftbeer · 14/09/2017 13:17

Just as a little reminder- David Cameron claimed DLA on behalf of his son, and he wasn't otherwise short of a bob or two.

Claiming DLA (or PIP) doesn't mean actually that someone doesn't work or couldn't if they had to.

ItsAllAboutThePace · 14/09/2017 13:21

Yes piglet but the conversation has moved on to disibility discrimination/test cases and law changes. Not just dla /pip

Branleuse · 14/09/2017 13:21

I suspect that the potential tenant in the OP said it would be paid by DLA becuase they are ashamed of having to claim housing benefit and are trying to let you know that the reason for it is because of disability rather than being a workshy layabout scrounger, like so many people seem to assume. They need to appeal to landlords directly in the hope it wont just be a blanket ban on everyone on benefits, even when the reason for it is completely understandable

27Feb · 14/09/2017 13:23

I would, but I've had some bad experiences with renting to tenants on benefits before. Not the tenants - they were lovely - but the government seems to stop payments on the drop of a hat and it takes ages to get reinstated. I think I wound up losing about eight weeks rent over a two year period that I never got back.

And I know any tenant could stop paying rent, but the frustrating thing about the benefits system is that it doesn't matter what your relationship with the tenants is, what kind of people they are, how nice and responsible they are. A random person in an office miles away can decide on what looks like a whim that they want to cut off that person's rent and it's gone.

So, I'd do it again, but I know I can afford to not have rent come in one month.

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