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

[7hup]

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 :(

I'm just going to put it out there. If you need a mortgage to be a landlord, you can't afford to be a landlord.

Your response is a tad harsh there OP!

It's nothing to do without class, or UC. This situation has been going on far longer than UC has even existed.

Yabvu

Seline - it's about risk assessment.

A potential tenant who has been in full-time employment for for 10+ years is much less of a risk (on paper) than someone who has worked once for 6 months two years ago and is currently on job seekers.

It's not personal, and the long-time employed person might be a right knob who treats rentals like shit and the job-seeker might be much more reliable and take care of the place - sadly it's just about on-paper risk.

To be fair to OP shes probably worried about her friend and people who are going to make Benefits Streets references like that represents all tenants should probably take some personal responsibility for what they choose to post.

when was on housing benefits they missed payments dozens of times and when you have no back up money your up a creek.

Its a mixture of reasons

one payments are unreliable
insurance unemployed people cost more
The few making the rest look bad

unfortunately due to things like this you end up up a creek your self getting into debt trying to survive the poor get poorer.And all people have to say is get a job .When your already applying for everything left right and centre.

We were unemployed for years and now in thousands of council tax debt because we simply could not afford the bills.

whats worst if they want to kick you out,your not allowed to just leave or the council will declare you intentionally homeless and not help you.So you have to purposefully sit there and wait for bailiffs.No wonder they dont the poor

I receive DSS and opted to have it paid directly to my landlord. When I was younger and employed full time I got onto rent arrears because I wasn't paying my full rent on time. As long as the council are paying directly to the landlord then they are guaranteed to receive their rent rather than ending up with a tenant like I was that doesn't pay their rent.

It is embarrassing knowing that some landlords automatically assume you're going to be a scum tenant because you receive benefits.

I can't take DSS. It affects my buy to let mortgage terms. So, not just because I'm a cunt.

Let her lodge with you, if you don't want to identify as an elitist cunt 🤷🏼‍♀️

If you need a mortgage to be a landlord, you can't afford to be a landlord.

Why do you think that?

Plabom it's a massive leap though. I get what you're saying but without knowing external factors, it's impossible to make that call without relying on stereotypes.

I was on housing benefit once. I'm mildly disabled and DS1 has special needs. My job wouldn't let me have time off for his appointments so I had no choice but to leave to cater for DS. I can only work certain jobs due to my own disability.

Finding somewhere to rent was difficult and we ended up in a tiny 2 bed next to a weed smoking twat who would threaten to slash people's tires and he would play loud music all night which would upset DS.

Was a nightmare.

Yanbu it is a horrible situation. I do understand the argument that people can choose who they rent to and if it was anything that wasn't a basic human need that would be fine but the fact is that people need to live somewhere so when noone will rent to them what are they supposed to do?

Seline that’s bollocks. Right now NOT having a mortgage and being a landlord makes little financial sense from a tax perspective.

OP, you can swear at us all you want but under the terms of both the mortgage and our insurance, we can’t accept tenants who are in receipt of housing benefit. It’s not our choice.

The property that we own is to provide for our children’s future and I refuse to apologise for that.

Blame the mortgage and insurance companies that impose the no DSS rule.
Blame the government for fucking up benefits, the fuckup the UC is (waiting 6 weeks, being cancelled if you get paid twice in an assessment period etc)
Blame the councils that require people to stay in a property and go through courts and eviction process before they will be considered homeless.

I'm not sure if the rules are the same everywhere, but here the council can claim overpayments of housing benefit back from the landlord if they can't get it from the tennant.

I wouldn't want that to fall back on me either if I had my own house (I'm in a council house so not a home wonder, or elitist scum )

Maybe the council will have a list of people who will accept benefits?

There's two sides and possibly more to this issue OP as you are being told.
Landlords are wary of renting to people on benefits. Letting agents also say no on landlord's behalf. Sometimes yes this is unfair and too much of a blanket policy. Shelter are running a campaign against it at the moment.
The government need to provide more social housing.

A bunch of middle class cunts who probably own multiple properties and don't give a shit about people down on their luck.

OK I'll bite. My grandfather's house is rented out because he lives in a care home and needs the rental income to pay for his care. No, it's not "disgusting" that he (or actually, my mum, who has POA) has the choice to turn down tenants who are statistically and historically a risky prospect. If he doesn't receive the rent, he cannot stay in his care home. Simple as that.

Yes, it's shit for your friend but you are laying the blame at the wrong door. You could try blaming the shambles of a benefit system we have or perhaps you can blame those DSS tenants who DO cause absolute chaos for landlords and neighbours alike. The last housing benefit recipients my aunty had living in her rented property did a moonlight flit with all her appliances and left human faeces in all the bedrooms. The ones before that didn't pay their rent and it was really difficult and long-winded to try and evict them. Reckon she's "disgusting" for saying no more DSS? Should also add, she ended up renting her house because she has had to relocate and was nobody wanted to buy it. She's actually struggling financially as a result.

I really wish there were far, far fewer private landlords, especially those who've used a BTL mortgage and then can't accept tenants in receipt of HB if the mortgage provider says so. We need a massive programme of social housing creation in this country- housing is far too important to be the investment vehicles of a bunch of amateurs.

It's not fair to attack private landlords for not taking DSS or people who've suffered a MH crisis like your friend.

There is a huge housing crisis in the uk, as well as a huge MH crisis.

Charities like Shelter may be able to help her find suitable accommodation, but in her current circumstances with having no children etc I see nothing wrong with a roof over her head in a B&B.

Would she rather be homeless the streets??

@Seline i sympathise Ive got someone like that living below me.

nomorepies is unfortunately correct, every house I know that has been destroyed has had NON WORKING tenants in it. My mum and dad friends just had £10000 of damage done to their property,
The people were only there 6 months

My grandfather's house is rented out because he lives in a care home and needs the rental income to pay for his care.

Why doesn't he sell it and use the money gained to fund his care?

I agree with you. We've always had to rent and for a time we claimed housing benefit, which is a stable income that's not going anywhere, unlike a job you could lose at any second and certainly more than being self employed. But like people have said, the few have ruined it for the many. It's not fair and it shouldn't be a blanket ban in my opinion because there are no other options

Why do you think that?

Because someone's rent is supposed to cover the costs of upkeep yet too many landlords refuse to maintain their properties to standard, because they don't have the capital.

Secondly it's ruining first-time buyer properties.

I have two rental properties, owned outright so no mortgage lender. One of my tenants is in receipt of disability benefits and my landlord insurance covers her, no problem, so it’s worth checking with agents or landlords and explaining her individual situation. Our other tenant has a pet, which we were also happy to accommodate - not all landlords are miserable bastards 😉