To think these potential tenants don’t add up and suspect benefit fraud

[ChocoLeibnizBiscuits]

I know mumsnet hates landlords but I have unexpectedly found myself one.

I received tenant reference checks through and the applicant has had over £40k in this bank account for over 6 months however they have also been receiving almost £1000 a month in universal credit. I’m not at expert but I know how difficult it is to get UC and a quick google shows you won’t get any if you have over £16k in savings.

they also wanted to pay 6months up front.

I feel mean rejecting them
but something doesn’t add up does it?

I find it strange how many landlords profit at the expense of tax payers as they receive housing benefit for some tenants

Landlords don't receive benefits, they receive rent. Where the tenant gets the rent is nothing to do with them. The landlords receive exactly the same rent regardless of where the tenant gets the money from. The beneficiary of benefits is the benefits claimant, no-one else. Or would you also claim that Tesco receives Universal Credit, if someone who received it shopped there?

If you can convince me landlords are benefiting from housing benefit, I hereby promise to abolish it when I am PM. Benefits claimants will have to live in a ditch, but that's a small price to pay to ensure those disgusting private landlords don't get any government money.

OP. Useful blog here www.propertyinvestmentproject.co.uk/blog/finding-tenant-guides-for-landlords/

I worked in the sector for many years until a couple of years ago, I know what I'm saying. We never asked for guarantors earning 3x rent. The Shelter website doesn't even confirm that it's always 3x rent for a guarantor.

However, do you have bad credit, bad references or low earnings that suggest you may be a risk? They are the only situations I can think of this happening every time you rent.

I can think of 6 scenarios where people paid up front with large sums of money - 4 growing drugs, 1 subletting and 1 prostitution. We stopped accepting it. 40k in savings ties in with illegal activity and potential benefit fraud.

Rent up front can also be because someone knows they will fail on income multiples that referencing agencies set or someone who is retired or divorcing and doesn't have a monthly pay cheque - but has a fair bit of cash or a lump sum or may have an old CcJ etc - it doesn't mean they are all cannabis farmers!!

Exactly. I was an exemplary tenant for 20 years and jumped through hoop after hoop after hoop just to get a roof over my head - most notably when my Landlord of 8 years gave me notice they weren't renewing the tenancy as they were selling, when they knew our baby was 1 week old!
Cue 18 months of viewing 4-10 properties per week, filling in applications for each & every single one, having a household income of over £60k (in 2015) and then-15 years of perfect references from local lettings agents yet EVERY single time getting rejected because 180 people applied and the Landlord chose the wealthier couple who also had a guarantor! Something I didn't have as my widowed mother was retired and didn't get enough pension to be guarantor. My DH's parents the same. So the following week it started alllll over again.
20+ hours per week of my maternity leave I was spending viewing properties & filling in application forms when I should've been bonding with my baby. All for nothing at all. Rejection after rejection - purely because of Landlords like OP & like @NAndJAgainstStrepA
The estate agents 'collected' all the applications over a 2 week period and then the landlord chose the wealthiest couple as it made 'best business sense' for them. Of course. Forgetting about those of us further down that hierarchy who were still quite capable of paying the rent but also had 15+ years of excellent references from landlords. A baby to house and facing homelessness despite having cash in the bank.

We ended up sleeping on my mother's spare bed with my then 3 month old baby who barely knew who I was as we didn't manage to get accepted anywhere before they sold my house.

Oh and about the tenants in the OP - they could have had compensation. This is disregarded by UC for 12 months. Interesting to know that Landlords still haven't changed being so god damn judgmental

I never said harrogate was a county!

Starbucks? What does a coffee shop have to do with anything?!?!?

@NAndJAgainstStrepA Increase my income?

I'm now a severely disabled widow. I cannot 'increase my income' what a vile, snobbish thing to say and you know you're in breach of the talk guidelines now. This is a joke

You said at 22:50:

”Every single letting agent & estate agent in my county & town require a Guarantor for every let, regardless of income”

This is claiming that every letting agents in N Yorks requires a guarantor every let. That’s not true. You’ve gone on to claim it’s only Harrogate - I’m telling you Harrogate is not a county.

And I meant Starbeck - but I suspect you knew that seeing as I mentioned it earlier and you just enjoy being obtuse to deflect from the fact you’ve spouted total garbage.

My best friend had to leave her rental flat as her landlord was selling. Her partner had been off sick long term due to an injury so they didnt pass affordability checks for the new rental, they paid a year up front due to parents lending it to them and have looked after and improved the property in the last 3 years and are now negotiating to buy it after saving enough. Rent up front is not always a red flag

@MadameMackenzie yes my experiences have been similar and the uncertainty of not knowing if you have a stable address through no fault of your own is horrendous . This is one of those threads though which I can see trying to stick up for renters is a waste of time we are all horrible house trashing no gooders according to half the people on here

@LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet I never said it was only Harrogate I said you've clearly never rented in Harrogate! Keep up!

To my recent knowledge, all estate agents & lettings agents (note I didn't say all landlords, I said all AGENTS) in North Yorks & Harrogate, require Guarantors for incomes below £75k

Most of my family and friends are in Harrogate and surrounding areas (born and bred in Bilton here!) and many of them are piss poor - none of them have ever had trouble getting rentals. I’m not saying you’re lying but that’s very very unusual. Are you sure you got good references? Tenants don’t usually see them. I’ve given references before where I’ve said the tenant/a paid up every month but had a bad attitude.

@MadameMackenzie what a truly horrible situation you found yourself in.

However please redirect your anger towards the people who created the current shit storm we can now see in the rental sector. The government, and the uber left wing pressure groups.

Years of tax rises, regulation changes and cost after cost with higher and higher risk meant that over 40%of landlords have sold up in the last 5 years. Meaning a critical shortage of rental properties and thus, landlords choosing the safest most risk free tenants (and so would anyone)

If the proposed ban on section 21 actually goes through you can wave goodbye to most of the remaining landlords in the sector, because noone is going to rent a property if they can't get it back again if the tenant trashes is, refuses to pay rent etc which are all very realistic risks and the current eviction mechanic takes over a year to remove a tenant, whereas a s21 is the easy no fault on paper route *(even though there will likely be fault.)

Unfortunately the chickens have well and truly come home to roost, not that it helps you at all.

You are wrong about all letting agents in North Yorkshire. Totally and completely wrong. And I have rented in Harrogate, as I’ve already stated. Maybe the odd agent demands guarantors because it’s so expensive to live there that it’s easy to fall behind on payments. But I seriously doubt EVERY Harrogate agent requires a guarantor for every let. And I know for a fact this doesn’t extend to the rest of the county.

This thread is mental

the landlords have been allowed to purloined a large portion of the housing stock and that means they have the power to dictate who gets a roof over their head and who doesnt
it's not the LL 'fault', it's human nature to want to maximum profit for minimum risk, the fault lies with govt failure to properly regulate the housing market, it should function for the benefit of the people, it very clearly does not😟

@LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet I'm fully aware of my perfect references as HBC Housing department commented on how they rarely see such decent references and for such a sustained period of time. I also know because I never once missed a rent payment since I first rented aged 16 in 2000! Never had a single complaint. Thankfully also never had a bad landlord.

You may well be from Harrogate but if you had tried to get a rental property from one of the agents in town, within the last 15-20 years at least, you'd know precisely what I'm talking about. Especially Feather Smailes - they also require your blood & flesh

I rent & we moved last year into a bigger property. It didn’t help that a lot of people couldn’t move in 2020. We viewed one place around 100 people had applied for a viewing which then was whittled down 25, us being one of the 25!. Viewed it put an offer for the advertised price - got a phone call a few days later saying the LLs liked us but there had been a few others offering more & would we consider increasing on top - like £250 more then first advertised! 😵‍💫I think it’s happening more in the rental market!

They are clearly commiting fraud, as anything over £6k in savings is assumed to produce income and having over £16k stops UC.

@Treacletoots Oh my anger is very well directed at them don't worry! I'm just defending myself to the snobs on here! I know not all Landlords are bad. I'd love to be one myself and treat some young tenants how they should be treated.

......only if they've had the lump sum 12 months or more

Isn't it just!

Not necessarily.

When I had a bad credit history ccj etc a kind landlord let me give 6 months upfront.

Would be homeless without him giving us a chance.

We lived in the property for 5 years no issues. We left and he helped us bag a council home.

It's not always "dodgy"