Benefit tenants 'rip off' landlords.

[Welshchris]

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.

[rogerdraig]

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

[Russ]

Originally Posted by rogermevans

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

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

Good luck finding a tenant mate...

[Dai]

Originally Posted by Russ B

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

Good luck finding a tenant mate...

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..

[Russ]

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.

[Angua]

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 .

[Dai]

Originally Posted by Russ B

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.

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.

[rogerdraig]

Originally Posted by Russ B

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

Good luck finding a tenant mate...

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 ----------

Originally Posted by Russ B

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.

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

[Julian]

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

[Russ]

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.

[rogerdraig]

Originally Posted by Russ B

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.

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

[Russ]

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

[superbiatch]

Originally Posted by Julian

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

[rogerdraig]

Originally Posted by Russ B

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

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

[Welshchris]

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.