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Nom | Why not DSS when renting a Property? |
Can anyone tell me why most Landlords don't accept Tenants which are on DSS. I've got a property To-Let at the moment, but people are advising me not to take on DSS Tenants because rent may not be given on time, or the house condition might not be maintained properly. I think if the Bond is collected, then that can be used as a security measure as well as checking the property regularly to make sure it is looked after by the Tenants. So please can anyone give me Pros and Cons to having Tenants which are on DSS? |
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Lewiy
|
Due to the nature of the local council internal procedures, housing benefit payments can take several months to be processed. Usually, the Landlord will be given money by the council up front for a deposit and first month's rent. The deposit is paid back to the council at the end of the tenancy and the first month's rent is paid back in installments to the council by the tenant.
After that, you can wait several months to receive any further rent as the council have to assess the tenant as to how much benefit they will receive. To add even further confusion, many councils pay in 4 or 6 weekly installments rather than monthly which can make it difficult to keep track of the rental payments made.
The biggest problem is that the tenant is still responsible for the rent and the council is in no way included in the tenancy agreement. As such, if the council pay benefit to tenant, you then still have to collect money from tenant. As they are DSS, they often spend the money before you get your hands on it (without stereotyping too much, this is from experience). If the council pay the benefit direct to you as Landlord but they have assessed that the tenant still has to pay part by their own means it can become even more tricky because the tenants always seem to think that the council are paying the full rent and don't want to give you anything. All in all it can be very messy.
This is not always the case, and sometimes the DSS tenancies can work fine, but, in my experience there are no plus sides to DSS tenancies which you wouldn't get with normal private tenancies. If you do want to go DSS, I would recommend that you get a reputable Letting Agent (preferably with relationship to local authority) to organise this for you to save hassle.
As far as the actual tenants go, good and bad tenants come in all shapes and sizes and you can never really tell. I have had experience of some top class DSS tenants and some really nightmarish professional business men. You really can never tell.
Hope all this has been helpful to you. Good Luck! |
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iiitttsssaaadoozy
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You will probably receive your money more regularly from DSS tenants, as it is paid directly from the DSS in most circumstances. There is no reason to suppose that they will treat your property differently to other tenants.
The major reason a lot of landlords don't want DSS tenants is because they don't declare all the earnings they get from property. |
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mcfifi
 |
Pros: If you can get the rent direct from the Council's Housing Benefit Department, then you know you will always get the rent. I believe most councils do this.
Cons: Councils set a limit on how much rent they will pay on HB, depending on the number of people in the house. This varies from council to council.
You might not be able to get the full rent that you are looking for from a DSS tenant, as they will only be able to pay what the Council will give them on HB.. |
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Red P
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The government is always late with payment. They set a cap on what they are willing to pay which is means tested and the tenent has to renew this (fill in the standard government form) at regular intervals which many don't do.
If it goes wrong it's almost impossible to evict them meaning your property has people living there without paying anything and you have a huge legal bill to get them out. |
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the_slimreaper
 |
'No DSS' usually means 'no Housing Benefit'. Housing Benefit isn't actually paid by the DSS, it's paid by the local council, but there you go.
Reasons not to have 'DSS' tenants:
Housing Benefit can take weeks to assess, so you're weeks without rent.
Housing Benefit does NOT use the contractual rent as the rent for the benefit calculation, it either uses a local 'flat rate' or the opinion of the nearest government valuation agency. Where you live depends on which way they do it. If you charge £500 rent, and the council says £400, then the benefit is calculated as if the rent was £400.
The rent figure is only the starting place for housing benefit assessment. The housing benefit contribution might only come to a couple of pounds.
In all these cases the landlord either has to accept the lower payment given by the Housing Benefit, or chase the occupant for the difference.
Reasons to have a DSS tenant:
The tenant can choose to have their housing benefit paid directly to you. (This option is being phased out, and is no longer available in all areas.)
If your tenant is more than 6 weeks in arrears to you, then you can ask the council to pay the housing benefit to you instead of the tenant.
With DSS tenants it comes down to this. If the Housing Benefit doesn't pay all the rent charge will you accept the reduced rent, or try and force the balance out of your poverty stricken tenants? |
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guitarvirgin
 |
The benifit is that the rent will be paid regularly. The drawback is that a disproportionatly high percentage of people on benifits are filthy and have no respect for other people's property. There are lots of horror stories written by landlords regarding how their property was totally trashed. You need to read some of these horror stories before committing yourself to anything.
There have been lots of books written about being a landlord it would be a good idea to read several of them. |
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dickon83
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o.k the trouble is dss are not reliable for paying you and if your tennants sittuation changes they can just stop paying or cut back what they are paying leaving you to chase after the money from your tennant...
i work on a holiday camp and we get dss stay all the time and the trouble is about 70% of them trash the place or steal stuff which is a shame cos some of them are really nice and have very genuine reasons for needing the help....... |
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Does it matter
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Why would you want to, these people believe that society owes them a living and why should they get a job if they can get money for doing sod all. they always got an answer that its because they don't want to. well i don't wanna do lots of things but i have to to keep my job and pay my own way. I can't believe they find it so hard to get a job, they just don't try hard enough. they respect no one or there property. I believe that benifits should only be paid to boost poorly paid people who are trying to help themselves through life and those who use our system should be found a job in our great cities to earn there free payouts |
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ZoroBabel
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probably because many landowners feel people on welfare are low-life scum that will tear things up and never pay and are dirty and lazy and theives.
A pro is that everyone needs a place to live and deserves a chance to prove they are decent people. another pro is that you know they have an income coming in even if it's low, and people who arent on welfare can lose jobs and have no income.
do whatever your heart leads you to do. people are people no matter where their money comes from, some are rotten tenants, and some are good. trust your instincts. |
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jojo
|
Pros
the government pays the rent so you can insist that they have it paid direct into your account.
more likly to be a perminent tenent
cons
the government only pays a %age of the rent so the tenent has to pay the rest and may not be able to this week next week and so on
may only be appling for privet as they cant get a council house due to bad behaviour.
this is a trick decicion, but when it comes down to it there are more unemployed then employed. simply the choice is down to you, make sure that you get referances from previous landlords and if you dont like 'like the look' of them then dont have them as tenents. this dosent just go for DSS. |
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Mikala T
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The fact is that you are MORE likely to get paid by Housing Benefit than a private tenant. You may have to wait up to 6 weeks for the rent to come through but it will all be back paid at that time.
Use your instincts when seeing potential tenants - if they have 15 unkempt children with snotty noses and dirty prams then they may well treat your properyy in a similar fashion! Beware of anyone wearing a shell suit or girls with dyed black hair and gold hoop earrings.
Often though, with DSS tenants, they are looking for a 'home' for their family rather than just a house and will look after it because of that. Unlike students who just throw up under your carpets and drop their spliff ends on the sofa. :-) |
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jacqueline m
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there is a limit on the amount of money the dss will pay for renting privately, if its over the amount given the person has to pay it from their own money and probably couldn't afford it. |
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button moon
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i think its better to take someone from the dss, their rent is paid automatically to you from their housing benefit, so you will always get it on time and in full, but i think the down side could be they wont look after it aswell, as maybe a working person/couple would! my aunty does this with her house, and in 10 years shes had her rent on time, and shes been lucky enough to have tenants that have cared for it! |
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deadman
 |
You will be relying on the local authority to pay the rent, they don't always grant the claimant the full rent that you ask for. This leaves it in the hands of the claimant, who is most likely on benefits and so wont have it to pay you.
They are less likely to look after your place and have respect for it, because they are not paying to live there.
Don't give yourself the extra grief of having a dole scrounger in your place. Rent to someone who works and is less likely to cause you trouble. |
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Weatherman
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Most landlords don't take DSS because of learning the hard way that many DSS tenants don't look after properties properly.
Just place your property with a professional letting agency, OK you lose a bit of the rent but they are then responsible for inspections, annual gas safety checks etc, not you. |
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