To accept tenants with DLA?

[thatverynightinmaxsroom]

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?!

My tenant is on DLA. No issue with the lender or the insurer. It's a garden flat with a big walk-in shower so it's perfect for her.

The tenant pays for subsidiary legal title to the parcel of land. And I have issues with all landlords whether they are paying off a mortgage or paying for a cruise with their unearned income in that they as a group provide shelter that is insecure (two months' notice at any time) of poor quality (one third of private lets are substandard) and overpriced (£10 billion every year goes on top up housing benefit payments for private sector landlords). They are profiting from providing the least suitable model of shelter and judging by threads like this on here are largely clueless to boot. Yet they can in all seriousness and with no sense of irony debate the worthiness of the tenants they are living off. It's just bizarre.

quercuscircus

I worked for RBS Insurance who owned Directline. Directline will only accept HB if one or more of the tenants are in part time employment. They will not cover full HB if no one is employed. You won't be able to pay an additional premium for it. Trust me that's their policy.

Thank you Anne for proving my point, namely that you are manifestly unreasonable and completely illogical. I pointed out to you how wholly unreasonable it was for you to falsely accuse me of making someone homeless, and your only response was to get sarcastic and say "oh noes, the poor landlords are getting upset", rather than to actually acknowledge how rude and out of order you'd been.

"I have a problem with all landlords" sums your position up, in a nutshell.

Having simulataneously been both landlord AND tenant, I can honestly say that the property I owned was nicer than the property I rented at the time. It was a lovely house - which, as I stated above, I let them rent at less than market rate for 12-18 months, and they were given in my case TWELVE MONTHS notice that they would need to find somewhere else. Not two.

You can be as sanctimonious and snarky as you like, you are losing the argument here by trying to tar us all with the same brush, making sweeping generalisations that are inaccurate and refusing to even acknowledge it when someone makes a fair and valid point in response to your sneering vitriol.

I shall restrain myself from replying to you further as you do not appear to be open to having an actual debate. Quercuscircus was, hence when she replied with a reasoned, nuanced response, it was worth my while responding to her. It is clearly not worth my while attempting to reason to you sadly.

(Save to add, I never "lived off" my tenant's rent. As stated above, I supplemented my mortgage from my earnings. I lived off my salary!)

All you've done is talk about yourself anyway TheVoice. At quite some tedious length. When you want to talk about something else, such as the wider points I've made, let me know.

Amicissimma the termination of an assured shorthold tenancy is the third most cited propellant into homelessness. It is a highly relevant factor. As for empty homes, I agree that it's a problem and it's one that is increasing - almost twice as many homes (1.4 million) are empty now compared to twenty years ago (800,000). I strongly believe that LAs should have more powers to take over these buildings. The situation has been highlighted recently with the contrast between the people left homeless after Grenfell and how difficult the authority found it to house them despite there being many empty properties almost adjacent to their former home.

Any tenant can stop paying rent due to job loss, sickness, benefits trouble ( or just not wanting to pay). As it takes months to evict non payers, landlords need rent guarantee and legal expenses cover. So a tenant has to be eligible for that.

Policies will cover benefits tenants, but not always. The mortgage company and buildings cover also need to agree.

Those are the issues.

^this^. LL have legally binding contractual obligations to their insurer and mortgage companies. If part of those obligations are to ensure future tenant have some form of part time employment then the LL have to abide by this or they risk claims not been paid/policies been cancelled from inception. For those LL only relying on EA advice you need to be away that EA don't offer advice on what your insurer or mortgage may/may not cover when vetting potential tenants. You need to check this out yourself to ensure your not breaching your terms.

I agree lL refusing to let a property purely based on the fact someone is on HB are very unfair. However, I understand why some may not be able to. Their hands are genuinely tied.

AnneGrommit
I really struggle to understand your position because if landlords can't be protected (ie possibility to end a tenancy) and do what they want with rent money they will just stop offering the property to rent. Empty properties are not a good thing.
So what then, should we legally only be entitled to own just obe property? What about people needing more because family circumstances, or work situation?
And how does it work without private rentals as the public sector doesn't have enough properties for everybody who can't afford to own?
Property prices are dictated by offer/demand, do you think the state should regulate the market? But then wouldn't we end up in horrible situations like Russia for ex where people owning a large flat where told to either move out to a smaller one or share with another family (I have seen it)?
Really, what is your solution?

Zebra31

Are you saying that DirectLine do not abide by their published terms and FAQs and that say they will accept unemployed tenants if they are in receipt of disability benefits (subject to referencing and other acceptance criteria)? Are you saying that they publish one thing yet do another?

During a recorded phone call (that is subject to FCA monitoring and regulation) I was told unemployed disabled tenants were accepted and offered the chance to proceed with quote based on accepting tenants with those circumstances - are you saying that this quote would be withdrawn?

If you are saying any of those things, that is quite an accuastion to make.

@Pemba - they already have changed the tax rules to make being a BTL less appealing, they've removed the tax relief on the interest component of mortgage repayments. I think it's too soon to tell though what the wider effect of that on the housing market will be. I know some landlord mates who are still considering whether to stick with it or not. General consensus seems to be in the short term, it's not really worth it, but they are hanging on for the long term.

The real solution imo is to build more social housing....

DLA is money which disabled people get to help with the additional costs of being disabled. I would check what other benefits they are on. Some people are still on DLA but almost all have now been switched to PIP. Many long term recipients of DLA have lost their PIP in the changeover, so it is not guaranteed income really. However receiving DLA does usually mean people get a lot more help from housing benefit. To be honest I think you need to know a bit more about their total income and the likelihood of DLA continuing.

Landlords who will only rent to already privileged people are arseholes really.

All landlords are arseholes. Using other peoples' misfortune to line their pockets and discriminating against disabled people. Scum, the lot of them. I hope a housing crash hits them all hard and bankrupts them.

Some people are still on DLA but almost all have now been switched to PIP. Many long term recipients of DLA have lost their PIP in the changeover

I'd definitely query the statement about DLA being paid directly to the LL, it just doesn't happen.

PIP assessments and awards can drastically cut the amount of money that was paid as DLA.
All over 16's will be changed from their existing DLA to PIP, so there's no guarantee the prospective tenant will receive any PIP award at all.

Tread carefully OP.

Sheesh dolcezza99 what about landlords who are themselves too disabled to work and their rent from tenants is their only income? Are they scum too in your strange worldview?

quercuscircus

I am not here to argue with you. Frankly it's of no relevance to me if you choose to accept the information I have shared. I only worked for the parent company that owns Directline for more than 12 years. BTW I fully understand what the requirements of the FCA are since I was on the project teams that support the bank when it changed from FSA to FCA. All I am saying is LL need to ensure they understand their contractual obligations.

There seems to be some poor unqualified advice on this thread. There are real people reading this and I hope to god they are not making decisions based on some of the opinions on this thread. Both tenants and LL need to ensure they understand their positions.

All landlords are scum, and making money off the back of other peoples' misfortune, yes.

All landlords are scum, and making money off the back of other peoples' misfortune, yes

I disagree entirely, but will not engage any more with you as it's pointless

Jolly good.

Also zebra31 the "legally binding contracts" you mention will not be legally binding and enforcable if they are unfair and discriminatory.

urubu The thing is we have to start realising is that anyone can become disabled through accident and/or illness and few people have enough savings or insurance to ensure that they can stay in their current home.

Imagine this scenario: your 24 year old daughter develops mengitis and loses a leg and a hand and suffers deafness as well as other difficulties that mean she cannot work. She does not have insurance, she only has £1500 in savings put by for a house deposit for a mortgage it is now unlikely she will ever get. It is terrible a shock, but she LIVED! At least she lived, and now you want her to live as independent a life as possible still and not live in your home now that she has recovered a bit. She cannot get enough priority on a council house and you would rather her not be restricted to a one bed flat with no garden anyway, so you phone around letting agents to get her a lovely little place of her own where she can practise her painting, sit on the patio and enjoy the garden and she's excited to have a couple of cats to keep her company. Its sad to think of what she has lost but hey, lets focus on the future, place of her own again..... but to your horror EVERY SINGLE AGENT you call refuses her a home because she will receive some housing benefit as well as her disability benefits. "But she is my daughter" you cry, "she won't give you any trouble. Shes' never been in trouble. We'll be her guarantor"....then insert any and all of the objections given in the thread above.

Then after some weeks and months more of constant phoning, begging and pleading, and shouting "SHE'S DISABLED FOR GOD'S SAKE. SHE'S NOT A CRIMINAL" you think well, she can have our buy to let property. We'll ask the current tenants to leave so she can live there. It isn't really suitable as it is a 3rd floor flat with no lift and the HB wont cover the rent, but it is better than nothing. Then, you realise that after the fairly recent restrictions to mortgage lending, it is now very difficult to get a buy to let mortage that allows occupation by a close family member and that the one lender you can find that does allow it, does not allow tenants on benefits at all, and anyway the HB isn't enough to satisfy the financial requirements. You only have £15k in equity in it - not enough to buy anywhere outright. What do you do now? She is your dear daughter and she does not have the life you wanted her to have AND now she does not even have her own home? So you ring more letting agents. You plead, you beg, you offer money "but we are good people" you exclaim, "we have always paid our way". "we'll pay the rent in advance" "Please ask our friends, her former employer... she is a lovely girl who deserves a chance" but nothing, NOTHING makes any difference. You are powerless. She is powerless. How does it feel to be able to do nothing to help your daughter have a decent home and some kind of life. You thought you were a person with the ability to buy things and make something of your life and to spend the money to get what you want, and you really just can't believe this is happening to you or your dear darling brave daughter.... but it is. It really is. And there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO.

So what people have to realise is that this housing crisis is very real and the terrible discrimination aganist disabled people and cutting disability benefits, is not just affecting 'other people'. You know, 'those ones' who brought it on themsleves but could very easily affect YOU or YOUR family.

And whilst the answers might be complex and mean you might not get that lovely BTL nest egg of capital once the BTL mortgage is paid off in 20 years, you don't necessarily owe it to a stranger to do something about this discrimination and housing shortage, you owe it to yourself, your own family, your own nieces and nephews, elderly parents, the people you care about etc etc to do something to help stop this inhumane system and stop the prejudice and dehumanising, because you and they are not immune.

quercuscircus I absolutely agree avout the unfairness of the scenario you describe. What would the solution be? (asking in a constructive way) I don't think LL should have to accept any tenant so could a solution be a mandatory rent insurance (covering unpaid rent, damages made by tenants, etc)? It would have to be a state insurance though, as private insurances would be able to add T&C like no HB and defeating the purpose. Could that be viable??

And thank you for taking the time to write this long post to illustrate your point, I don't mind a bit of reading when someone has a point of view like you instead of pointless landlord hating statement like some PP

quercuscircus

I stand corrected. I shall bow down to your superior and experienced qualified legal and u/w mind in these fields. I can see you know your stuff.

Op I think it would depend on person by person. My landlord (council house) normally send one bloke to do repairs and he actually asked me why I bother keeping a council house so nice?? It's still my home even if I don't own it.
I've been evicted by private landlord due to selling the house. The council told me if I leave BEFORE the baliffs turn up they wouldn't house me as I would of intentionally made myself homeless. They knew for 18 months the house was up for sale too.
I've been in the situation where I've had to pay full, part and no rent and the only time where rent has been late is hb cocking up.
Including me having hb on 1 phone line and la on the other to find out where the rent was.

You often see signs saying no DSS is this what they mean ?