in thinking ''NO DSS'' is so incredibly insulting!!!???

[juicychops]

i HATE my house its cold, damp, mouldy, cracks appearing along the walls, no double glazing, shitty expensive economy 7 heating and f**k all parking anywhere near my house.

after putting up with it for so long i want to move. been trying to save for a deposit for god knows how many months but getting nowhere with it. was told about rent deposit scheme and after a long conversation with the council im NOT eligable because i work and have 'just too much money' to be eligable for help with a deposit. - i would like to see where this 'too much money' is because the only time i ever see money is when im handing it over to pay a bill!

anyway, the nice lady on the phone said try landlords directly instead of going through agencies then i wont have to pay all the fees etc.

but the majority of these people stick 'NO DSS' on their poxy ads!
im hard working, pay my rent on time always but get punished in this way because i am a single parent!!

cant extend my overdraft to help me out so stuck in this rubbish house for all eternity.

on a downer now and just eaten a whole packet of jaffa cakes to help cheer me up - which didn't work!

[ confused][ confused][ confused][ confused][ confused][ confused][ confused][ confused][ confused][ confused][ confused]

When I rented it was advertised as no DSS because the landlady was claiming HB for it and lone-parent status whilst living with her boyfriend and pocketing my rent money so there's that too.

I didn't know that at the time of course. She had to sell it eventually to pay the DSS the money back

Oh that makes no sense - it was all very complicated but she didn't own it when I rented it, her ex did and they had lived in it together claiming she was a tenant and an LP. He didn't know I was living there and was blithely continuing to pay the mortgage. I suppose she eventually got him to agree to give her a half share.

Hope you get something sorted out OP.

Kaloki - do you want a lovely 2 bed, 2 bath appartment in Stockton-on-Tees?
Seriously, there are too many people out there who want somewhere to live and don't expect to pay for it, or look after it. I know so many landlords who are getting out, no wonder they say stocks of properties to let are getting low. The lucky landlords are getting out voluntarily, others are losing their properties because of arrears, negative equity, trashed accommodation etc.

I can imagine fluffyone!

Unfortunately it leaves those of us who want somewhere to live and who are responsible with few to pick from, and a lot them are nasty landlords!

We wanted to let our flat out to the council due to struggling to sell it - all fine, but the mortgage company then stated no DSS, no students. Also, the council chap that came out said we would need to budget for a new kitchen every 3 years and a new bathroom every 5, plus we would have had rip out the laminate and put carpet throughout, and again budget to replace every 5 years! The rent was the same as the mortgage, so it would have cost us money to rent it out (when you add in insurances and service charge.) So I can see why.
I am now in the position of clainimg HB, no fun at all, but the LL has been fine thank goodness.

We used to let to a tenant on HB. That was when it was paid directly to us. Even that was a PITA for us sometimes as it was paid 4 weekly and the mortgage is PCM. It worked out the same, but would've been so much easier re our own finances if it came through on a certain date each month.

Hi, I currently work for a London Local Authority, dealing with Housing Benefit.

Not going to be much help to you,but a bit of info.

Back in early 2008, when the news first came about that the Government were changing the rules and making it that claimants were to be paid the Housing Benefit, we were all like thisfor the following reasons:

firstly a lot of landlords were only willing to take on 'DSS' tenants if the rent was paid direct to them.We know of so many landlords who were perfectly happy prior to the rule change, who simply are not willing to take the chance, in case they get

.. as one other poster has already mentioned a tenant who receives their HB each month/four weeks and then shows no inclination to pay their rent and just spends it on other things.

Apparantly this change was to make people on benefits more financially aware and make them more responsible.

However, if you do get a landlord who is willing to take you on, there is a form you can complete to request direct payments to the landlord. BUT, you need to show that you are'vulnerable'. This could mean you declaring that you have any of the following issues: drug/alchohol issues, substance misuse, prev bankrupt or huge financial debts, arrears of 8 weeks or more, or have medical issues. With this last one,so many people say they are depressed and cannot cope with the day to day aspects of life and so to keep a roof over their head, all payments must be paid to their landlord.

Sorry, no real advice for you OP-but maybe your Housing Advice team could help. Our HA team help all those who ask and not just those on IS/JSA.

Hope you find somewhere soon.

Could you lie and then say you're circs changed? x

Crikey - what bad grammar! I mean your !! Sorry about that!!

I haven't read whole thread (sorry) but I'm not allowed to take DSS under the conditions of my mortgage etc. Personally I wouldn't have a problem with it (depending on the person), but I can't afford to get messed around, if I don't get paid the money has to come from somewhere. I'm not a rich landlord/lady, I rent out the flat I had as a single lady that I now don't live in as I live with DH. Due to the mortgage I have (bought at peak of market!) I don't make a profit, I cover the mortgage plus £50 extra,m which gets saved to pay insurances and a contigency for if the boiler goes. If

Sarah, most landlords will ask for referencesand various other checks, DSS will more often or not show up. I certainly wouldn't lie, whenever I was a tenant I found it was far better to stay on the good side of my landlord, same goes for most things I think. As a landlady I would be very suspicious if this happened.

Also, if someone is anti DSS in their property they will only opt out of the contract at the 6-month break point anyway, meaning they'll have to keep moving on.

Just as an aside, as far as I understand it this is what a friend of mine has done. She moved into a privately rented house (via an agent) recently. She's a lone parent of 3 and receiving incapacity benefit so is eligible for housing benefit. Her rent is paid direct to the agents as she has no building society branch in her village and, she says, has a financial status bad enough to make her pretty sure she wouldn't get a bank account. In order to get to pay a cheque into her nearest b/soc branch she'd have to take an hourly (costly) bus with 2 of her DC, which takes an hour to get to the nearest big town. Then she'd have to do the same a few days later to withdraw the rent and then and only then get it to her LL. Thus she would be in arrears all the time.

The stress this would put her under was decided to be good enough reason for her to have payments made directly to the LL.

So, if you live in a small town or village you may well have sufficient argument to sway the council.

Valhalla get your friend to apply for a Co-op Cashminder account. She just needs to ring them up (08457 212 212) and they will open the account up over the phone. She can have online banking, a debit card, DD and SO, telephone banking and if she doesn't have a branch nearby she can use the local post office.

haven't read the whole thread but you need to find someone who ownes the house outright - my mortgage provider wont allow me to let to people on housing benefit

if i owned the flat outright i'd be happy to.

valhalla - agree with mrsgok - by law all citizens can get a bank account - it will be a solo type account with no overdraft facilities etc but as v says you can use internet banking and everything. ime which bank is offering them changes now and then but many folk i know have a 'step account' with nationwide (or natwest i forget - the one with the navy logo)

meanwhile i thought this 8 week arrears thing would save dh and i but its useless. once the arrers have been paid it goes back to the hb going to the tennant. our tennant gets the hb and then sayd to us 'well i just cant afford the rent this week'. meh!!

Sungirl - that doesn't make sense. If they got 8 weeks in arrears then that proves they can't manage and therefore the rent should go direct to you.

hully - sorry if that didnt make sense. what happens is that it goes landlord direct until the arrears are paid off/rent is up to date - then it goes back to the tennant getting it.
i am obsessed with trying to sort out our PITA tennant and researched this alot. when i found the 8 week clause iwas over the moon and yelled to dh 'its fine, once they have gone 8 weeks overdue everything will sort itself out!'. Foiled again and we are back at square one AGAIN!

Sun - read the post above from the LA person. The tenant can request that the rent is paid direct to you as they are "vulnerable." The evidence for this is that they did fall into arrears for 8 weeks.

got ya hully - but the tennant has to want to do that. sadly our tennant uses the hb as their overdraft. i might contest it again though since it has gone 8 weeks over several times now. meh!

Talk about irritating agents WRT to DSS. Just got an email from someone showing us a property that explicitly states no DSS, so when we email back and point out we'd asked for DSS properties we get told that the landlord was actually willing to take DSS but that now he "didn't think we the right type of tentants" !!!

Hi I am a landlord and one of the conditions of insurance on the properties I rent out is no DSS. However I have had several tenant who 'became ' DSS and that was Ok with the insurers.Many people lie.Give friends as employment references print off fake payslips- there are websites that provide this service.