To expect a landlord to take on a tenants on dss benefits?

[dragonstitcher]

I've heard different reasons for why landlords don't like tenants on IS and housing benefits.

One reason I've heard is that benefit claimants have a reputation for being rough and they don't want their property to get trashed.

Another reason is that councils have a tendancy to pay late.

These are the two reasons I have been given. I don't know whether there are any more.

I am fleeing an abusive marriage with three girls. I don't smoke, drink or have wild parties. I like to think I'm a thoughtful, decent human being. I'll be on benefits until I can sort out a means to support myself and my family.

So maybe the council might pay the rent a week late. They are going to pay it every month without fail aren't they? I would have thought that the guarantee of getting the rent every month would be a bonus.

What bothers me is the fact that this is a known issue and yet nobody does anything about it! When I sort my life out, I'm tempted to try to start some kind of campaign myself.

I know that when my sister wanted to rent out her house, the building insurance was astronomical for DSS tenants as opposed to non DSS. She felt awful about having to say no to people claiming housing benefit but couldn't afford not to.

Message withdrawn

The thing that would put me off most as a landlord is that when you give notice a private tenant will (usually) move out. If you have a housing benefit tenant then they have to be evicted through the courts as otherwise they are considered to be voluntarily homeless and the dss is not obliged to rehome them.

We will probably sell the flat that we currently rent out at some stage, and it would be a real pain in the arse for us to have to go through the courts to get a tenant out.

The problem arises not necessarily because of anti-social tenants, but because the tendency now is for the the tenants to be given the money to pay onto the landlord, rather than the council paying direct, as it is seen as empowering the tenants to handle their own money. If the tenant has been claiming fraudulently, even if honestly mistaken, the council can recover the money from the landlord, as they have a sitting target, rather than trying to recover from the tenant.
For this reason, most private landlords are reluctant to take the risk.
Even if the council is paying dorectly this can arise. And paying late IS a problem - ( which you need to understand if you are taking on a tenancy!!) - try paying the Inland Revenue late and see what their view is!!

HB is not usually paid direct to landlords so there is no guarantee that the landlord gets paid.

Insurance costs are very high for DSS tennants which means less profit for landlords together with a higher risk of having to claim.

Theres also wear and tear, people on benefits can spend more time at home than somebody who is out for the day working - not always but another thing to factor in.

Also as Bran says, its far harder to evict a DSS tennant.

Whilst I sympathise with you OP, I also believe that landlords should be able to pick and choose who they rent to.

There are lots of known issues with renting - whether dss or non dss but there seems to be little political will to tackle them. It is particularly difficult for families.

I sincerely hope you soon find a place for you and your girls.

Housing benefit is paid in arrears so you get 4 weekly in arrears which is hard to reconcile with the mortgage and with the new LHA as MrsGuyofGisborne says, it is now being paid directly to the tenant.

And some mortgages I have seen specifically specify that you do not rent to people on housing benefit and the insurance is more.

However I do let to people on housing benefit and actively look for people in exactly your situation as I think we are all only a few pay cheques away from it and I know how friends have struggled in the past. One of my tenants split up from an abusive partner and has 3 children. I was happy for her to move in then sort out the bond(guaranteed by a council department) and the housing benefit. So hang in there, there will be something available though I know it is tough.

Dragonstitcher, the best thing you can do is not tell the landlord you are on DSS until after meeting them when viewing flats. That way they will see th ekin do fperson they are. Then write to them and explain you rsituation. They may still be reluctant because of potential issues but landlords are human too and might go out on a limb for someone they know is not going to be trouble.

Will you not be able to claim a cetain amount of support from your husband to help reassure landlord as to means to pay?

The problem is not so much lack of private landlords willing to rent to you as a lack of social housing that should be available to all that need it.

I really sympathise Dragon as I have been through the wringer trying to get my Mum housed near me. I live in the South-East - I could not get my respectable, widowed mother, a woman in her late 50's on a tiny pension with excellent references anywhere to rent in my small town. Despite my dh being her referee (he is a senior civil servant on an good wage). As she is eligible for HB my mum was not considered for any rental properties near me. She was able to find a place in the roughest part of the County town - smelly and depressing and not where you would want you mother to live. The housing assoc all have 5 year waiting lists so we were wasting our time there.

Finally we accepted defeat and she has moved back to wales where loads of people are on HB and landlords will rent to them. She has a lovely little house now - she never would have got that here. No offence to Wales btw - it is simply how things are - and she is happier there.

As a child I was always in rented or Council housing - we were one of the few families not to buy our Council House - now we are finding out the harm that has been done by this policy.

I can understand why it bothers you but i'm currently living next to a rented house which is tenanted by a lady claiming every benefit possible, including DSS and IS and HB.... we've had endless problems and only finally got in contact with her landlord last week and he told us he cant evict her just like that!! So now we're waiting on her doing somethign we can report through the police and the council so her landlord has grounds to evict her on!!

His house has been trashed and will cost a heck of a lot of money, my garden has been trashed too over the last 2 years by her kids and yet now we're left waiting!!

I know not everyone is like my neighbour, but instead of getting a flat sorted privatley why not get on the housing list? then you can move into private accomodation when you'r sorted?... may be better in the long run?

Could you advertise under "property wanted" on Gumtree or similar?

There are many people who rent out properties mortgage-free, the last three places I have lived have been like that.

Dragonstitcher, I sympathise with you. It's hard and demoralising when you can't get a place to live because the system makes certain assumptions about recipients of HB.

We were very lucky when we got our flat after DS1 was born. The landlord specified no DSS but we were able to talk to a lovely lady in the letting agency and explained our situation and she had a word with the landlord who gave us a chance.

It's easy to say 'get on the housing list' but when there is a terrible lack of social housing and you are offered accomodation in a b&b for your family, you would give anything for a private landlord to take you on.

it's hard to know as a tenant how much rent the dss will pay IME
sometimes they will not pay the full amount and HB claims can take months to sort out - who is going to pay the shortfall?

I do see the difficulty for landlords in some cases - they are trying to make money not provide a service for people

however I do know from experience as a tenant that it stinks

I know it can be really difficult - a friend of mine in a similar situation had a nightmare problem. Sadly when she found a flat to rent the council did not pay housing benefit for months and months. When she finally found a lawyer who would take her case the council paid up on the day the case was due to go to court. Her lawyer told her that this was fairly standard with this council. Meanwhile her landlord (who was very supportive and did not want to evict a heavily pregnant woman) was getting into arrears with his mortgage...

Where do you live Dragonstitcher? Or I suppose I should say where do you want to live?

I think this clawback thing is a big issue for a lot of landlords.

For example: If you have a partner staying over for more than so many nights a week then the council will classify them as living in the property. hence the amount of housing benefit received will be less and then the council are legally able to chase the landlord, not the tenant or partner, for the 'overpaid' housing benefit.

Also any benefit being paid will be stopped if someone reports that someone is living with you as a partner even if it is not true. It only takes one call from an angry ex partner and the landlord is facing no rent from HB and clawback of any 'overpaid'. Really it is not in a landlords interests to let to people on benefits (however lovely and honest they may be) because the risks are too great.

Have you tried housing associations?

The posts outline really clearly the issues for landlords. I honestly don't think it's a case of prejudice. Ultimately, if people on benefits were a good bet, then landlords would take them on wouldnt they? Unfortunately there are too many risks much of the time. Many landlords are in a position to pick and choose, and really, if they are letting their property, they have the right to do that.

It also explains why the DSS (and so taxpayer) is said to pay over the odds - they must have to when the risks for landlords are so much higher.

Housing in the UK is a mess if you are not lucky enough to own one.

'The problem is not so much lack of private landlords willing to rent to you as a lack of social housing that should be available to all that need it. '

That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

i think the problem can also sometimes be that DSS will refuse to pay the whole of the rent, arguing it's not market rates. this is probably done once the tenancy agreement has been signed, then the tenant, on benefits, so unlikely to have much spare cash, has to top up the rent. this could lead, understandably, to the whole rent not being covered.

Thank you all for your replies. Very informative.

dragonstitcher, I think most council housing offices hold a list of privately owned properties where the landlords are willing to take tenants on benefits (this was where i found my first rented house)

I hope you're on the lists of all your local housing associations - If your current housing is insecure you'll get a better chance of being placed higher on social housing lists.

Oh, and it's not true that Housiing Benefit can't be paid directly to your landlord, you can sign (a section of housing benefit form) for your landlord to be paid directly.

In my experience it takes about 6 weeks for a first claim to be processed and the benefit you are entitled to will be paid 4 weeks in arrears.