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 do accept tenants using housing benefit to pay the rent in my properties. I haven't had an issue with insurance, but they are not mortgaged which does give me greater flexibility as arrears are less of an issue for me than if I had a mortgage to pay. My best tenant is fully on housing benefit, and I haven't had a worse experience with those on housing benefit than those not. The thing that I do worry about a bit is that because there's very little liquidity in the market for tenants using benefits to pay rent, if I had to sell, I might find it hard to end the tenancy as they'd find it hard to get somewhere else and the council would tell them not to leave. I would also feel pretty shitty making them homeless. The upside is, if you can get good tenants they tend not to leave.

I have a tenant I suspect is on HB and other benefits, even though I was told she's not. She doesn't work and is a single mum. The tenancy is between her and her ex-husband. I know they'd been divorced for a good few years before she ever took my house and he doesn't even live and work within 100 miles of the house. I suspected he was helping her out to circumvent the no HB requirement, for the sake of his kids. Fair enough, I can understand why they would do that.

I took her on as I don't have a mortgage on that property so I wasn't in breach of any conditions, but I always knew the agent and the tenant were not being completely honest with me, having done my own background checks. I may be in breach of the insurance conditions but I asked for a tenant that fulfilled those requirements and took 'them' (an apparently married couple with the husband's employment income of 40k) in good faith, so if it transpired the agent lied, or she lied, I sue someone if I need to.

I know her ex H has never lived there and I know she is engaged to someone else. She doesn't know I know this. I also know that twice, when she's been in rent arrears for a month or two, she's told the agent that she's been experiencing financial difficulty and unexpected expenses. Those 'unexpected expenses' have been spending Christmas in Saint Lucia. Hardly unexpected and hardly unavoidable.

She's quite demanding where maintenance is concerned and will withhold rent from time to time if she thinks a maintenance issue (often something that exists more in her head than in reality and the agent agrees with me on this) is not being dealt with quickly enough. I've paid out thousands to upgrade things because she's said they are not fit for purpose. They've been cosmetic more than anything else, but I've agreed to it anyway.

Currently I've been presented with a rent payment that is 300 quid short to account for an invoice to clear a drain blockage going from the downstairs loo. The agent just deducted the money from our rental payment without even providing us with an invoice or a breakdown of the work. We were not even told about it until after it had been dealt with and paid for. When we queried it and asked to see the invoice it turns out it was blocked with wet wipes, tampons and a build up of cooking grease.

So that is one unexpected expense she's going to have on her plate now. If she thinks we are paying that she's got another think coming. She could have got it done more cheaply, I'm sure, if she'd paid her own plumber to clear her own blocked loo, but trying to get one over on us means she's going to end end up paying the extortionate rates of a plumber who works via a letting agent for an absentee landlord. Hey-ho.

On the whole she's been a good and steady tenant and I don't want to lose her, so I roll my eyes a bit and cut her some slack. I'm lucky - I can afford to. She gets back on track eventually. But if that changes and she starts to push her luck a bit too much she will be given notice. And her next LL might not be quite so accommodating or prepared to turn a blind eye to the probable HB/benefits thing.

@7hup your housing association place is cheep mine us £800 a month for a three bed.

KIrstyA after UC has taken over 9 years to roll out through the country it’s doubtful the government will have another overhaul of the hb, and other income related benefits system any time soon. UC can in some cases have the housing element paid directly to the landlord just as hb can be paid directly in some cases.

At present empty properties are charged at 100% and then 150% after a time for council tax, council are voting on increasing this amount to 200% as they don’t want empty properties in the district when people are homeless and can’t get a roof over their heads

I live in a small block of flats. All professional working people. Somebody moved in next door on benefits. He caused no end of problems, he was violent and racist, didn't work. When he eventually moved out of what was a lovely flat, the owner (who was working abroad and who had rented it out whilst she was there) came back to a trashed flat. She will never accept another tenant on benefits. All the ones that have followed him have been fine. Unfortunately people like him confirm the risk. If I had a property to rent, I would be the same.

HelenaDove
So yet many people say to domestic abuse victims ‘just leave’ but where do they go!
The council won’t rehouse and no one will rent to you privately. These women have often been victins of financial abuse too so will have debts and no savings through no fault of their own.

Sarcelle, how do you know that the professional tenants aren’t claiming housing benefit? Many many working people claim hb or UC now, and people can still claim UC earning £30k per year depending on circumstances.

@Johnnycomelately1

"the council would tell them not to leave"

This is no longer true, as long as you serve notice to leave the council will consider them homeless from the end of the tennency, or that is certainly how it was for us

Hedwigs I'm guessing we are not in the same area. So it's irrelevant really.

The private 1 beds here in the same area as a housing association 3 bed are double.

So to all the landlords saying they wouldn't rent to people on HB for reasons other than mortgage/ insurance policy, would you not rent to me? A young professional, have been in employment all my life, have a degree and five years of rental references saying I've paid my rent on time consistently and take good care of the two properties I've lived in? If not, why not? Because I'm a single parent? I don't get it

ABit - Single parents are fine....I wouldnt rent to young males. If you have a professional job then I can do an attachment to earnings order if it all goes pearshaped. So yes you would be fine....apart from my mortgage issue

If it was made cheaper, easier and quicker to evict problem tenants LL's wouldnt be as nervous

If not, why not? Because I'm a single parent? I don't get it confused

A lot of people won't take people who need HB full stop and won't take children no matter what. They just don't want that wear and tear on their property or the risk the council or DWP will stop the HB/UC or decrease the award and they're stuck with no rent. And yes, it can happen to people who have employment enough to cover it, but HB is seen as a risk. In addition a lot of places are no children.

ABit it’s nothing to do with whether you are a single parent or not.

YY @gamerwidow ive seen more homeless women on the street in the past couple of years.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/brokenshire-announces-complaints-system-overhaul-for-private-housing-59882

"Housing secretary James Brokenshire has announced a new housing complaints service for private renters and homeowners
Under the plans, private landlords in England will be legally required to join a housing redress scheme for the first time, facing fines of up to £5,000 if they don’t.

The government is still considering how to reform redress for social housing tenants separately following the Social Housing Green Paper, with an update due in spring.

The ‘Housing Complaints Resolution Service’ is intended to provide a straight-forward route for people to get help with unresolved disputes about their home and make it easier to claim compensation from landlords or builders.

Currently, there are several different complaints bodies covering the housing market which can make it difficult to know where to register a grievance, the government said

Mr Brokenshire said: “Creating a housing market that works for everyone isn’t just about building homes – it’s about ensuring people can get the help they need when something goes wrong.

“But all too often the process can be confusing and overly bureaucratic, leaving many homeowners and tenants feeling like there is nowhere to go in the event of problems with their home.

“The proposals I have announced today will help ensure all residents are able to access help when they need it so disputes can be resolved faster and people can get compensation where it’s owed.”

A new Redress Reform Working Group will be set up to develop the Housing Complaints Resolution Service.

The government announcement said redress for social housing residents is being considered separately. It added that the response to the Social Housing Green Paper and the consultation on social housing regulation are due to be published in the spring.

The measures announced today form part of the government’s response to its consultation, Strengthening consumer redress in the housing market, which ran between February and April 2018.

Ministers have also previously promised to establish a New Homes Ombudsman for buyers of new builds, with legislation requiring developers to join the scheme to be brought forward “at the earliest possible opportunity”.

The government said developers will have to belong to the body by 2021 in order to access Help to Buy funding."

Article in DM over last couple of days said that it is now very difficult for buy to let owners to make any money.

so all the left wingers have got what they wanted, but now there enough rental homes around.

I wouldn't rent a rental home to DSS tenants.

Perhaps the OP could take her in as a lodger and get the DSS money. Not sure if you could do that or not.

The private landlords round here prefer people on benefits. The rents they charge are horrendous and quite frankly the only people who can afford them are people who don't pay for it themselves (housing benefit).

The rents they charge are horrendous and quite frankly the only people who can afford them are people who don't pay for it themselves (housing benefit).
Given that local housing allowance is set at the thirtieth percentile of rents in a broad market rental area, that doesn't make any sense at all.

The demise of buy-to-let owners is a good thing

yes there will be fewer rental properties available as they sell off their rentals to owner occupiers
There will also be fewer people needing to rent because homes will be freed up for occupation by owner occupiers
there are enough homes to go around, what we need is a more fairly regulated housing market

It isn't the availability of homes to buy that's the issue, it's the availability of mortgages. You might think landlords selling up their properties is a good thing, but it isn't going to lead to more buyers unless the mortgage criteria is loosened. It was tightened considerably after the 2008 financial markets crash which was mostly property driven and there is nothing in the financial press about a loosening of criteria. There are few reasons why mortgages should not be more freely available. A repeat of the financial crash of 2008 is unlikely to happen in the next decade or so because banks now have to carry more capital and aren't currently lending to people who obviously have no means of repayment, leading to the overextending of the financial institutions which is what lead to the crash.

You need to take the focus away from private landlords and focus instead on how poor our salaries are, particularly for the bottom end of the scale, and the lack of enthusiasm (unsurprisingly they are Tory) for increasing the minimum wage to a living wage. In Australia the minimum wage is around 14 pounds an hour, and the cost of living is fairly comparable to the UK.

We have a tax credits system, propping up big businesses by subsidising wages in order to pay the wealthy shareholders bigger dividends. We need to have a dialogue in this country about what sort of country we want. Unfortunately the whole Brexit load of shit, has taken the focus off the real issues in this country, and while it continues, the real issues will continue to be ignored.

If you want to be able to have a reasonably priced property, whether it is privately rented, or housing association, or owner occupied, take a long hard look at the selling off of council houses, the lack of investment in property by local authorities, and the lack of tax incentives to enable landlords, including housing associations, to offer properties for rent at a more affordable price.

Incidentally rents have come down in the south east but we are talking of 30 to 50 a month. Hardly going to make a difference to people.

@ExFury @AbsentmindedWoman

inews.co.uk/news/real-life/disabled-woman-a-prisoner-in-her-own-home-after-council-refuse-ramp-then-order-removal-for-health-and-safety/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=ijp&fbclid=IwAR3B9S18Zl7UFHTiE-rGTg04FOjdXZv8FcZELs3PBXfsz15diDQqk_FSMSs

Good post Jon and I agree with most of your points but let's not forget that tax credits and the ridiculous situation they've led to with suppressed wages and benefitting big business was created by a Labour government, before you blame the Torys.

I am absolutely appalled that the selling off of council houses is still going on. It's been great for those who've bought at a huge discount and sold for a bomb but an unmitigated disaster for social housing overall. For too long governments have been more than happy to push the problem onto private landlords so to penalise us now is to shoot everyone in the foot - and who suffers most? People on low incomes who need to rent.

I disagree that the cost of living in Aus is comparable to the UK though. Its far more expensive.

Minimum wage is £9.75 in Australia @$18 dollars an hour and not £14 per hour.

As Tory’s have had more than a decade to make changes to the welfare system and raise the minimum wage each year to prevent large businesses or any business taking advantage of government subsidies its a bit rich to blame any other government when they wouldn’t have been prevented from raising wages from the opposition

Yes and on that basis it's also a bit rich to blame the Torys for the lack of social housing after selling off all the council houses when Labour had 13 years to build some more and did fuck all.

And created a situation that led to the boom in private landlords buying up houses as an alternative to shit performance on pensions.