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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think it's disgusting the amount of landlords who won't accept DSS?

655 replies

7hup · 22/01/2019 16:23

My friend is 36 and just been kicked out by her boyfriend because she had a mental breakdown and multiple suicide attempts .

She's just been released from hospital and has been given a B&B room as temporary accommodation.

She has to claim universal credit as she is in no fit state to work.

Council said if she can find private housing they will cover her first month's rent/deposit/fees.

No where takes housing benefit.

It's unfair.

There's no council accommodation and no private landlords will accept it.

She's 36. No children. No pets. Doesn't drink. Doesn't smoke. Is quiet and polite. Keeps to herself. Clean and tidy. She just needs a home :(

Its working people too. My Dsis has a kid and can't move out of my mums because she works only 16 hours because of her son so would receive housing benefit. So she can't move either.

Even on Spareroom. Co. UK in our area there are 674 rooms.

ONE takes DSS. And is dou le the price of similar rooms

It's so unfair :(

OP posts:
Seline · 23/01/2019 17:01

its no good to keep blaming society though....often its the parents fault. if you trash a place, and dont pay rent you are inevitably going to be evicted and moved on at some point. If you cant be bothered to work, or get sacked because you steal or dont turn up because you stayed up partying too often late into the night , you are inevitably going to be hard up and have to go onto benefits. none of that is the LLs

I was on benefits a while ago.

I had to leave my job because they wouldn't let me have any time off for my DS medical appointments, some of which were urgent. I'm disabled myself so can't work certain jobs. I've never trashed a house, I don't drink, don't party and am quite a quiet person who keeps to myself.

Why the hell would you assume I was any of those things?!

dreamingofsun · 23/01/2019 17:09

seline - if you read my post i say 'often its the parents fault'. And it doesnt say that everyone trashing a place is on benefits....just that if you do you trash a place you are likely to be moved on

Fowles94 · 23/01/2019 17:10

They regularly don't get paid it in my area so I don't blame them. It's not their responsibility.

swingofthings · 23/01/2019 17:12

That's the issue, people being rejected or not considered take that position personally when it isn't meant to be so at all. LLs opting to exclude a certain number of potential tensngs do so to reduce their risk of adverse effect, not because they judge you as an individual. They don't know you, they don't care about you anymore then you care about them. They don't know your circumstances any more than you know theirs.

They don't make assumptions on whether you might pay the rent or not or trash the place, they just say yes to the people who statistically are less likely to cause them trouble.

Seline · 23/01/2019 17:15

Sorry, it is personal. "It's just statistics" doesn't cut it when me and my kids are potentially left homeless because someone is worried I'm "not the right sort" because I've been on benefits.

This is why housing should be as much a social sector as education or healthcare

Erinaz · 23/01/2019 17:20

If your friend can show estate agents a entitled form of how much benefit she receives for housing benefit you can do this online and come up with a larger deposit it may help. Its better to go to estate agents in person. Also if she is not well she should get disabled benefit this might be better in getting a bigger property . It doesn't help though if your credit is bad. Also council can help with deposit but would need to be payed back and the area they can find housing is not always that great.

Wordthe · 23/01/2019 17:33

we have 'accidental' landlords and amateur landlords whose postion is precarious because of the need to repay mortgages

this should be dealt with by a restructuring of the incentives, govts have made landlording much too attractive and easy, way too much credit was extended to would be BTL LL's, everyone piled in and now we have a dysfunctional housing market

Plabom · 23/01/2019 17:37

@Mummylife2018 what's disgusting?

PinkGin24 · 23/01/2019 17:42

@Seline, as a LL you and your kids are not their obligation. Tough luck if you take it personally!?

Seline · 23/01/2019 17:45

Pink people who take that attitude shouldn't work in a housing sector. You're not selling chocolate bars, this is peoples lives

EssentialHummus · 23/01/2019 17:47

And on the loans point - I hope you realise that the Tesco* you shop in is likely also subject to a mortgage, and that most of their suppliers are paid on the basis of short-term credit agreements. There are lots of commercially sound reasons to use loans even if you’re the picture of financial health.

PinkGin24 · 23/01/2019 17:50

@Seline, they aren't 'working in the housing sector' - they aren't some volunteer charity worker! They are a renting out their house to make money. Why would they even risk taking on DSS tenants - it isn't personal it is statistics. Like insurance.

swingofthings · 23/01/2019 18:00

Sorry, it is personal. "It's just statistics" doesn't cut it when me and my kids are potentially left homeless because someone is worried I'm "not the right sort" because I've been on benefits
It's personal to YOU, not the LL. I don't even know how many families the agency turned down let alone who they were. I just agree a set of criteria with the letting agency and they applied it. Even I did agree to consider people on benefits, I'd be likely to get over 10 interested families, so many would still be turned down, and that would have been on the basis of other criteria. There has to be a cut off. If those turned down becausextbey had a dog, they too would say its personal because they are pet lovers.

swingofthings · 23/01/2019 18:03

You're attitude Seline is no different to Tesco agreeing to issue credit cards to some people and not others. Do they have a social duty to ensure that everyone is fed so should give credit cards to everyone who applies just so they feed their families?

swingofthings · 23/01/2019 18:04

Your not you're.

Plabom · 23/01/2019 18:04

@PinkGin24

It's not as black and white as that. Some tenants may be in receipt of government assistance (which rules them out immediately for a vast majority of properties) but they may still have good references, have a guarantor, have valid reasons for that assistance and have good credit scores.

For someone in that (or similar) circumstances, it's incredibly unfair for LLs to simply not even entertain the idea of accepting them. In my experience this is an attitude of Letting Agents rather than private landlords.

The stereotyping of 'DSS' tenants is harsh and unfair. As a LL myself I judge on a case-by-case basis. I do accept pets (maybe not a dozen Newfoundlands...), I don't mind smokers (as long as they smoke outside) and wouldn't ever give a blanket 'no' based on one aspect alone without considering the whole picture to assess suitability.

Darnsquirrels · 23/01/2019 18:09

I'd say it's more than a few bad apples. My Mum rents a house and 3 of 4 families who were DSS didn't pay rent, had to be evicted and trashed the place. She won't rent to DSS now and I don't blame her. They all had references too.

swingofthings · 23/01/2019 18:10

For someone in that (or similar) circumstances, it's incredibly unfair for LLs to simply not even entertain the idea of accepting them
Fairness doesn't come into it though. In the end, if LLs via agencies or not, refuse people on benefits, it is because they can get tenants they are happy with (at least to start with) without doing so. So even if they did agree to consider people in receipt of benefits, what chances would they have competing with a family whose income puts them above the benefits threshold? Many LLs don't live near the property they rent or just don't have the time to meet with prospective tenants. Agencies are definitely businesses whose interest is to make easy money with little risks, so they certainly are not going to also take time to get family well to decide that despite being on benefits, they are much more likely to be good tenants than a family that isn't.

Sadly, people on benefits are left with properties that people not on benefits don't want. That doesn't mean they are terrible properties but likely not to be as desirable.

namechangeforidentity · 23/01/2019 18:11

Not really.

Landlords need their rent. That's why they prefer and want proof of people who in employment and adequate amount of earnings to show that they can and will pay their rent on time.

Universal Credits have buggered it up for landlords who have taken on tenants who have DSS, because now they are not getting their rent paid as UC goes to the tenants first, whom then find that they cannot actually afford it!

Not the landlords problem. Harsh but true.

Plabom · 23/01/2019 18:12

And I wholeheartedly disagree with those saying LLs don't have a moral responsibility. These are people's lives!

I feel a very real responsibility for the safety
and well-being of the families in my rental properties. I feel a responsibility for their home to be warm and safe, and to live there financially comfortably, not worrying about whether they can afford the next month's rent.

I've been there. I've been both sides of the coin, and I think if LLs and LAs engaged with their morals more often, we would have fewer issues.

Darnsquirrels · 23/01/2019 18:14

@Plabom Bollocks. And I'm saying that as someone that's been homeless twice. I'd never think a landlord had a moral duty to not get paid. Provide a warm and adequate house if you're paying yes.

swingofthings · 23/01/2019 18:15

I feel a very real responsibility for the safety and well-being of the families in my rental properties
So do I, its my role as a LL, but it doesn't extend to interested tenants whose circumstances I know nothing about.

Plabom · 23/01/2019 18:17

Swing, how long have you been a LL and how many problem tenants have you had?

swingofthings · 23/01/2019 18:19

@pla om, have you yet dealt with a tenant who stopped paying rent, stopped any communication with you, told you to F* off when you knock on the door for an explanation, who you had to take to court to evict and then trashed the place so bad, you hardly recognise your property? If you have, I really admire your sense of social duty but you can't expect everyone to have the mental strength and financial flexibility to feel the same.

Plabom · 23/01/2019 18:19

bollocks

Thanks for the input Grin