To think renting as single mum is horrific

[Blueysmum12]

My bff is a single mum to two young boys. She works in a nursery and gets universal credits. She has a small dog who she got when she split with her husband and is her baby.

she’s lived in the same house for 6 years, rent paid every month on time etc.

the owner is selling their house and obviously she has to move. Between us we have rang 40 properties in this town and surrounding villages. Not one will accept her because she’s either on in universal credits and she has a dog.

the council rang today and said they suggest she takes anything and rehomes her dog because they will put her in a bnb for around 8 months.

I would have her dog, but I have a cat and a dog and 3 kids already, my husband isn’t keen.

I feel so bad for her. She’s lost weight, she looks an anxious mess.

:(

My sympathies are entirely with the neighbours.

The only good thing the Tories are doing is getting out the DIY BTL muppets out of the market (my heart bleeds for them) so that large corporates can provide mass housing to the rented sector. This will at least bring the security of tenure and a standardised level of repairs and accountability. Affordable housing should be a right not a privilege in a civilised society but decades of inaction started by Thatcher and her right to buy have taken this county to a terrible place.

Exactly, as a landlord I wouldn’t take the risk on someone on universal credit. Not like the good old days when rent was paid directly to you by the local authority.

@VoiceOfCommonSense Then you are breaking the law.

I do hope none of the holier than thou landlords/ladies on this thread end up in a position where they have to rent due to marriage breakdown or other reasons. You will be in for a shock or maybe just a bit of karma

I worked in homelessness prevention for years and I agree with this.

And if the OP is in the SE I'd happily have the dog for a few months!

I hate how accepted landlords breaking the law is on MN. It is always but....
Somehow a lot seem to think laws should be an optional extra for them.

I am really sorry your friend is in this position. But i understand the landlord's perspective. I would accept universal credit but I will never again accept a pet.

I did, because I knew people who had struggled to rent because they had dogs.

My flat has been completely destroyed by a damn cat. It stinks, the carpets all need ripping up, new sofas required etc. I'm now left with an empty flat that I can't rent out or sell without considerable time and expense. The deposit didn't even touch the sides of the cost, let alone lost rent.

Never again!

Why do you need to be so ridiculously rude!!
I think my point was quite valid.
that is what I would do in this difficult position.
how am I thick or naive?? I’ve said I’m a LL and so have obviously done this myself hence why I’m partaking in the conversation.
if the references are followed up then the LL will see she is a good tenant! Obviously this is if she actually is. If she is then what’s the problem??
if she isn’t as verified by ex LL then that’s a different matter as being a bad tenant ruins it for yourself in the end. But… the post has said she is so I’m going on that.
absolutely no need to speak aggressively to other s on here. It just shows what kind of person you are.

Why does someone with two actual children need a dog as her “baby”? She needs to reassess her priorities.

Well.surely you would be forced to sell your properties if you stopped renting them which absolutely would help...

If I was your friend I wouldn't be taking private I would wait until the landlord actually sells and the council will find temp accommodation which will be much cheaper than private.

Tough one but humans are more important than a dog, finding a home for your kids is priority

Not your fault @QuietQuietBang just very, very unfortunate that a 'CEO of an energy company ' was no more trustworthy than you seem to expect a single mother on benefits to be, it must have been a shock for you.
Thankfully, a house of that caliber, with plantation shutters and everything, the damage cost must have been easily covered by the deposit?

Agreed OP. I only managed to find my previous flat because I became friendly with an estate agent- I was going in 3 x per week and she took pity on me a bit as a fellow single mum. The place she helped me secure was cold and over priced, then 3 years later got a social housing offer x

Agree I'm not a LL but I wouldn't risk it. Do you and other LL not check your properties regularly? My exs LL used to call by often.

@vera99
The only good thing the Tories are doing is getting out the DIY BTL muppets out of the market (my heart bleeds for them) so that large corporates can provide mass housing to the rented sector. This will at least bring the security of tenure and a standardised level of repairs and accountability. Affordable housing should be a right not a privilege in a civilised society but decades of inaction started by Thatcher and her right to buy have taken this county to a terrible place.

Im not sure I agree with that as a good thing. It seems more like Tories seeing a market opportunity for their big business corporate friends to move in on and cash in while giving the Tories voting it in appropriate £3,500/mo “strategic consultancy fee” kickbacks. I’ve read online about some of the corporate mass housing schemes and looking at pictures/sketches/floor plans they remind me awfully of Soviet era soulless concrete rabbit hutch tower blocks you’d see. Most of the corporations pegged for this already build huge blocks of student accommodations and only a barest bit of research can tell you just how low quality of housing that has proved to be. But of course, society cares less about students than children. It’s like some rite of passage bit of poverty tourism to the Tories to be a ‘poor’ student in disgusting cramped living conditions. Not sure that will hold true when entire families get crammed into such housing blocks. It’s like history repeating itself…I was happy to see such mass housing tenements being demolished as little as ten years ago..now we are back to thinking it’s a good idea to build future Grenfell towers..

Same! Astonished the PP thought her friend to be a victim in that circumstance

Hardly. Because I was a totally responsible and very careful fully registered and insured LL , I know letting legislation inside out so none of it is a shock.

This thread is full of numpties who despite knowing nothing about the law, are blithely dishing out very wrong and damaging "advice". The very LAST thing needed by OP's friend.

As for "karma".... I made very sure a long time ago, to make my own money and never have to depend on a man or his bank balance. God played no part in that so I've never needed to pretend to be holy.

No in London they’d be turned into holiday lets instead.

She could always get a job.

That way she wouldn't be on universal credit and someone might provide her with a property to rent.

its hideous. I was made homeless years ago. We eventually (my daughter and I) found a flat. We paid deposit.. day we were meant to move in… landlord decided my credit check wasn’t ok (it’s terrible but she would’ve known this before that day)… my parents offered her an entire year rent up front… she still said no. We were in emergency accommodation for 8 months… temporary accommodation for 3 years. It sucked. I hope your friend gets sorted.

This

Still can work and get UC….. ignorant reply

I think that by the time most of us have a second property to rent out then that becomes quite unlikely.

Like our friends with rental properties we waited until we were both doing well in our careers and had some good savings and investments behind us before having children to make as sure as we could that they’d not end up needing to rent.

If we did split up then we’d likely turf the tenants out of the flat (when their contract ends, of course) and use that ourselves.

No, I’d not be forced to, but if I chose to it’s not going to help my tenants at all, who want to rent, not buy.