Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

It was a stupid idea of paying the 'tenant' now, and not directly to the landlord as before.

I think these people just change things because they can.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8152937.stm

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

How does this work now, is there no longer even an option for the benefit to go to the landlord?

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Is there any reason why landlords don't have that written in to their contracts? That if the tenant pays with benefits then it is to go straight to the landlord?

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

If I was a landlord I'd insist on a standing order that went out the same day as the rent was paid by the benefit agency..

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

This new rule is not helping anybody. it just puts temptation to the tenant (which they term as an important aspect of helping customers with the move into work)
and it increases the probability that the landlord doesn't get paid at all.

Everyone loses out because of a change in the way the government wants this to now work. anyone would think there was a motive for this radical change.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Renting and letting will always be a difficult area. You get bad tenants, you get bad landlords and you can't please everyone.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Totally agree there with that comment.

I have had some ace tenants, and I feel I am a great landlord.
Always some bad apples though who do not play the game, on both sides.
I have withdrawn my rental house from the rental market now, after the last tennants wrecked it. It upset me so much that someone, infact two of them could abuse my trust in them and abuse my property so much!

May sell it now.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Totally with you on that one Lucy. Us landlords are always painted as the bad guys but until you've been there and seen the appalling things that some tenants will do to your property it's hard to believe.

Still got a couple of flats but it's uncertain how much longer.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I've only ever been on the tennant side of things myself, but from talking to a friend of mine I know where you're coming from on the wrecked house Lucy. The last lot of tennants they had completely trashed the place - the only reason they (just) had enough money to cover the damage out of the security deposit was because him and his family spent the best part of a week doing the repairs.

This government "initiative" is nothing more (IMO) than a way to make things easier for them, claim they're helping people while dumping the bill on the public. :(

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

How about putting a "some" in the title i know it's not as fun to be factual but it is more realistic. Yes there are some bad tenants amongst benefit claimants and guess what there are bad tenants that are not on benefit go figure maybe it's that individual personality thing.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I'm sure the BBC omitting the word "some" wasn't intentional. and I doubt if they thought it would upset many people by not including the word.

it's like saying 'Protestors cause trouble with Police' they're talking about the ones who are causing the trouble, not all of them.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Im sure i have vented my anger on here before about my (now ex) noisy neighbours.
When they left the property (because they did not pay!) they had their tea put down the plates and walked out.
The house was full of cans,bottles and cat poo.
The landlord who I have got to know had to rip out everything and replace it.

We have some new tennants now and to be honest it is difficult to tell if they are ever in . bliss!

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Sort of off topic now, but....................

My company does the internal cleaning for communal areas of a few apartment blocks.
One of them is mainly student lets, there is all sorts of yucky stuff to clean up there, once including sick and blood. The girls always ring me for the bad stuff, as I do not expect them to clear stuff up like that!

In another block in the city, the caretaker found human poo in the lift.
The property managment company gave me a ring to ask if I would clean it up, at that time I was 2 hours away, so the boss man of the managment company went and did it, as the caretaker would not.

I once did holiday lets in the rental house.
Rented it for a week to a young couple, found use of drugs evidence, foils and stuff, and the matteress had been peed in!!
Nice!

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Our Czech Roma neighbours got housing benefit paid to them, they just stopped paying the landlord until he got a legal order to kick them out.

He still hasn't been paid.. 8 months in all... £5200.

To cap it all, the council was "obliged" to rehouse the family, first in a hostel, then in a 4 bedroom house (private not council house).

The payment should go direct to the landlord IMHO.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I claim housing benefit and its paid direct to the housing association that way its one less worry for me getting it paid on time when its paid direct to them.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

as an ex landlord :) i can see both sides of this

if i rented out a house now i would insist on 3 months worth of rent as a bond as it now held in a special account i dont see that this is much of a risk for the tenant unless they wreck the place or fail to pay the rent ;)

then ask for at least 1 month in advance this gives you a bit of leeway for payments you need to make if they are a little late and the bond is there to pay if they walk away with out payment and also as a way to give you time if you have to evict them

picking your own tenants helps to prevent problems IF you can say no to ones you dont want ;) if your one of those who cant say no then get a company that others use and recommend

i dont see the rent thing as a big deal the bit that's a real night mare is the ever changing regulations for gas and the vents for it ;) you end up with a house with force ten gales going through it and freezing tenants lol

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

So you'd effectively ask for 4 month's rent upfront?!

Good luck finding a tenant mate...

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I'd rather wait for a tenant with a few quid and willing to put his money up front to guarantee his behaviour than suffer some of the rubbish we've had to deal with over the years.

How about the tenant that skipped off after smashing the bathroom handbasin off the wall? Wasn't I delighted when I called a few days later and discovered the hot and cold pipes still gushing water!!!

Or the idiot that seemed incapable of finding his way to the toilet. In lieu of that he simply filled empty cola bottles and left them standing round the flat. Luckily he did put the tops on some of them. Less luckily some of the others fell over.. It had been a new carpet as well for that let.

These were both working people with good references..

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I'm not saying you shouldn't take care when finding a tenant but expecting someone to front that sort of amount, especially with the economy the way it is.....I have to say I find that pretty unrealistic.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Simple answer is to get a standing order ready that is paid from the tenants bank to the landlord on the day HB goes in. Problem with HB is it is always paid in arrears .

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I'll agree with you that it's not easy. For a lot of my early life I would have struggled to find that sort of deposit.

There's no easy answer really. It's always a leap into the unknown with a new tenant. You have to accept a reasonable degree of wear and tear just as you would get in a home you owned yourself.

I still believe that the landlords that are prepared to accept benefit tenants are exposed to higher risk and should be paid direct. You are providing a service that the government is unwilling to directly address. They should do whatever they can to minimise your exposure.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

i would now as the bond is basically insured and the dss tenants can mostly get help with the bond now i really dont see that its a problem

it used to be because the landlords would take the bond and not give it back for minor damage that most of us would call ware and tear that tenants didnt like giving bonds

and as to private lets i mostly see them as higher risk as often they are from out of area and can disappear back out of area as quick as they arrived ;)

i can quite understand people may find it a lot to get together but equally if i am lending some one something worth over £100k i think i am not being unreasonable asking for some assurity from them that they wont damage it

most of my tenants however never paid anything up front as i knew them well and other than one who refused to open bathroom windows and then complained about black mould lol i never had a problem

---------- Post added at 21:15 ---------- Previous post was at 21:07 ----------

those still in work should be able to and most dss ones can now access bond schemes

see

http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/housin...ond+Scheme.htm

my other house now has my mum and dad in it ( i dont think they are going to run off ad they dont pay me anything any how lol ) but as its worth over that £100k mark asking for a 1 to 2% deposit doesn't seem over the top to me

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I wonder how Robbie Fowler gets on........:erm:

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I can't see anyone being awarded a bond that's equal to 3 months' rent.

In any case let's nor forget about the ******* landlords who do as little as possible the tenant's legitimate requirements.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

my nephew just got 2 months roughly £800 on a £395pcm rent and he paid a month up front ( very nice 2 bed flat )

as to the **** landlords tenants in these bond schemes have a good lever themselves in that they can always call on the council to send enforcement notices too get work done or risk loosing access to the bond for those or further tenants

i never understood landlords who dont look after their properties but it should be getting harder and harder for them to get away with it as to rent out you need a raft of certificates for gas and other things

it needs the tenants to report things as they go wrong and for others to if they wish report buildings to the council especially if you think they are packing to many into a bad house as the fines for not getting registered and therefore hopefully the house checked for multiply occupancy can lead to heavy fines now!

see
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/Ho...quirements.htm

http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/Ho...licencehmo.htm


those are slightly diferent

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I'm not talking about landlords in the bond scheme I mean the ones who (for example) won't undertake any repairs unless threatened to by the council, then get people to harass those tenants for getting the council involved and try to cut corners wherever possible.

There's bad people on both sides remember although you wouldn't think it judging by this thread.

This is the sort of thing we need more of: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009...dlord-register

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

:confused:

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

the best way and i know its hard but its for the tenants to walk away from those landlords even if it means taking other temporary housing

i don't understand why those landlords dont fix their houses maybe now the properties gaining value just by sitting there they may think again but in any case the best remedy is to remove their income

personally if the landlord was like that i wouldn't want to be his tenant even if the council eventually got him to fix the house

i do know there are bad on both sides which is why i wouldn't moan about all the certificates i would have to get if i ever let out a house again though you will find lots of landlords that do

ps i would still moan about those vents though lol

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

Where i used to live, the guy below me was evicted after the DSS found out that his girlfriend was living with him and shouldnt have been as she was working and his benefits stopped. Not only did he walk away owing well over £1500 but because they were dirty gits he caused a maggot infestation throughout the building by having over 7 months of waste in bin bags piled up that he didnt take out to be collected. This meant that i had to claim for more stuff from the DSS when i moved to replace everything including my sofas which it had infected, my bed which was a divan and a lot of my clothes and thankfully my Housing officer was brilliant and wrote a letter explaining the circumstances to the DSS and they did help me and could see it wasnt my fault.

I cant understand how some people can live like that. I cant afford a house of my own but the flats that are let out to me i always take pride in and care of and if a repair person from the housing association comes to the flat i always make sure he/she does the same.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

:)

From Wiki

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

thats sounds a great idea lol though i am one who thinks ( i have two dogs ) that we should have a £500 dog breeding licence A £50 owning licence too

i would be quite happy to sign up to that if i relet my other house maybe they should think of getting a bond scheme in with it too so there would be money of mine held in case a dispute went against me as i think i did everything i could for my tenants it would seem only fair

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

What the hell have dogs got to do with anything? There needs to be a nationwide scheme to protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords and we all know there's plenty of them out there.

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

was just pointing out i agree but that some think i want to many licences for everything ;)


again i think that link you put is a good idea i see no reason why a good landlord would have much of a problem of being on a list of good land lords

Re: Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.
 

I already knew that, just didn't understand the relevance.