To think landlords are more likely to accept benefits now?

[chubbycheeks26]

Given then current situation and many families being forced on to benefits?

Or even mortgages and insurance policies allowing it? Could rents rise? All seems like it could be a complicated mess. They'll have a tough time renting to just keywords with stable jobs.

[quote chubbycheeks26]@emilyfrost clearly my landlord thinks differently re guarantor, if they little extra good then they wouldn't be used.

Missing the point spectacularly? As are you, think this passed year has shown people's incomes are far from stable and I'm pretty sure people are reliant on employers paying them on time. I've seen employers not pay.[/quote]
Guarantors aren’t commonplace precisely because they offer little extra protection; you are lucky you were able to find somewhere that took one for you.

It’s rare for employers not to pay on time, and while we are going through trying times at the moment, in general redundancies and losing your job aren’t anywhere near as common as benefits being stopped. To even suggest so shows ludicrous naivety and ignorance on your part.

They are regularly stopped and quite often there isn’t a valid reason, just a miscommunication on one end that then takes time to sort and leaves people absolutely fucked. They aren’t stable, hence so few people accept them.

My ds said he is like this because people with btl can't always take benefit claimants.
As he owns his properties he felt it was his responsibility.
This is in a sort of deprived town in Greater Manchester, and rental properties for benefit claimants are so in demand.

Lots of comments on here about not being obliged to reveal your benefit status. We would not consider any tenant without doing a referencing check including credit checks which would reveal income including benefits. In the current climate we are even more stringent as the eviction process has increased from two to six months with unknown waits for possession orders at court. As I have said we have no problem with benefits tenants and have taken out at least half a dozen new tenancies with benefit recipients since covid began.

However I do understand the difficulty for benefit tenants to even make offers with some landlords. I
do think there is a prejudice with some landlords that is a bit shortsighted and unfair on decent people.

As an aside I have had more hassle from a couple of 'professional' type tenants trying to scam the situation than any benefit tenants. One stopped paying his rent for spurious reasons. Turns out he was buying a house and wanted to save some money. The other lost a business because of their fraud and then tried to keep most of the housing benefit they received rather than pay their rent. Currently thousands in arrears and sitting in the property although they could have downsized to a property appropriate to their means.

i rent and my sole income is from benefits. i do have a guarantor, that was luckily the only proviso from the landlord.

since covid i am probably more financially stable than some people in employment. my benefits won’t change, my rent is guaranteed and though i say so myself i’m a model tenant!

i get that some BTL mortgages don’t allow it, but renting to someone on benefits is no more financially precarious than renting to someone in employment, especially in difficult economic times such as these.

[quote chubbycheeks26]@jackstini I have to admit, if I moved in when I wasn't on benefits and then ended up on them I don't think I'd say anything in fear of eviction I'd just make sure they got their money. However it's nice that already being on benefits means the landlord is already aware and I can't hide it. I suppose my guarantor helps.[/quote]
I've done exactly that with the moving when not on benefits and then converting. Was alot easier.
The time I began renting a new place when on benefits was terrible

It is now law not to discriminate against people on housing benefit; unfortunately it's not illegal for the mortgage and insurance companies to discriminate against landlords for letting to those people!

Surely if a term in a contract would require you to break the law, that term cannot be enforceable?

(But as I understand it, while a landlord refusing to rent to someone on benefits was ruled unlawful, that ruling did not set precedent.)

I do think that from many (not all!) landlords the attitude goes like this. Working tenant trashes the house and stops paying rent? "They were a bad tenant." Tenant on benefits trashes the house and stops paying rent? "Benefits claimants are bad tenants."

@Dacquoise “Lots of comments on here about not being obliged to reveal your benefit status. We would not consider any tenant without doing a referencing check including credit checks which would reveal income including benefits“

Credit checks do not reveal income source. They only reveal which creditors you have agreements with and whether or not you have kept up with repayments. They also reveal CCJ’s.

We ask for bank statements and work references as part of the referencing checks so it will come out on that.

@Dacquoise you may do, but that doesn't mean anything when the change of circumstances happen during the tenancy.

@Oldsu, I think it is when the mortgage was taken out and contact signed. When I got my btl mortgages it was definitely stated under terms of mortgage we signed. Mortgages taken out after a certain date don't always have this clause. If I were to remortgage I think it would be taken out but that would cause me costs.

I prefer to rent to 2 parent families where both parents work. That said if I had renters who paid rent on time and kept property in good condition if the family broke up and one patent wanted to stay in house I would accept that as contract signed at point they were employed.

I have btls and my insurance prohibits renting to people on benefits. But I don’t personally care and have been on benefits myself in the past.

It’s not true that the law doesn’t allow you not to I let to people on housing benefit though.

@caringcarer Hope I don't come across you in future then.

Apparently single parents should be homeless.

Did not say that at all. Simply said I prefer 2 working parent family or couple as from experience they don't default on payments. Besides 2 working couple with no kids won't be given social housing.

[quote Wontbemadetofeelrubbish]@caringcarer Hope I don't come across you in future then.

Apparently single parents should be homeless.[/quote]
Whether you agree or not, private renting is a business, not a goodwill gesture.

Landlords quite rightly want the least risky tenants possible, so a two parent working family will always take preference over a single adult on benefits.

Landlords are not obligated to provide housing, they’re in it to make money.

@fucknuckle

i rent and my sole income is from benefits. i do have a guarantor, that was luckily the only proviso from the landlord.

since covid i am probably more financially stable than some people in employment. my benefits won’t change, my rent is guaranteed and though i say so myself i’m a model tenant!

i get that some BTL mortgages don’t allow it, but renting to someone on benefits is no more financially precarious than renting to someone in employment, especially in difficult economic times such as these.

I totally agree with yor comments. Honestly, the only problem we ever found/ not ds this time Was the professionals who split up, or lost a job, the entitled ones who'd gut the place before going, leave a mess, because they didn't care, not their house etc, the bitter ones. The benefit claimants left the place beautiful, thoroughly cleaned and proper notice, not like the professionals who did a moolight flit. Claimants have more to lose, they need a reference and their deposit returning. Give me benefit claimants any day.

Landlords are not obligated to provide housing, they’re in it to make money.

This is true, @emilyfrost but I’d venture most aren’t even in it to “make money”. It’s just the least risky alternative income stream they can find.

Irony being it’s becoming riskier by the day!

@Buttercup2021

Landlords are not obligated to provide housing, they’re in it to make money.

This is true, @emilyfrost but I’d venture most aren’t even in it to “make money”. It’s just the least risky alternative income stream they can find.

Of course they are, otherwise they wouldn't be ll, the property would be empty

Well the phrase “make money” to me implies excellent returns. A barely 3% return isn’t what I’d call a good return for the amount of effort involved - I earn 5% on average on my ISAs for doing zilch.

The landlords I know (and I know quite a few as I’m also freelance) are self employed people who do it to even out their income when they’re not working.

If you’re investing your money in a very risk averse category such as property, it stands to reason you won’t have much appetite for risk in terms of the tenants you’re prepared to take on.