Q:hello me lovlies, need to pick your brain
anyone thats read my threads before know that im getting divorced. ive two children and work,im having to give up my home and go into rental. now for the first 6months il be paying out of my equity for the rent , but will soon after will
run out of finance, i dont earn enough to cover the rents around here and my wage isnt enough to even cover the rent, hence housing benefit will come into play to subsidise,. now even though i work landlords are wary of touchin me.. i understand housing benifit is paid 4 weeks in arrears and im happy to pay that upfront so the landlord has no shortfalls, but what i want to know is does the landlord have to know im claiming?? as theres sucha stigma,do they have to sign something . or the letting agent to say im claiming? they always say what you dont know cant hurt? . any advise would be great xxxxx wendy
Any property let from an estate agent will have to be properly vetted with income details, job references etc.
Yes, advertisments in the local papers etc may not be so stringent, but landlords will obviously want to put good tenants in their homes.
Couple on benefits vs working couple? Hmm, tough choice!
If i was a landlord and using either estate agents or privately doing it myself, i would make sure i let out my property to in work couples.
Too many risks with benefit claimants. The LHA is going to be paid directly into their bank accounts. That is a scary thought, for some landlords.
I'm not saying all benefit claimants are bad tenants, far from it, there are obviously good benefit claimant tenants, but you'll get a lot of them who are and who will deliberately go into arrears with their landlords and spend the 'extra' money on fags, booze and drugs.
The temptation is going to be there to spend the money and worry about the rent later.
Not good for landlords, hence why tenants need to be properly vetted.
We have a tenant whose Husband left her and two small kiddies part way through the tenancy. They were private tenants as we have a no benefits policy in general due to the few who ruin it for the rest. Anyway, he fully ditched her without any support and since she couldnt return to work (both kids under 5) she had no choice but to claim benefits.
Housing benefits pay for the equivalent of 60% of the rent and she makes up the rest from her income support as she is living in a 3 bed house and would only be entitled to monies for a 2 bed.
She is paid this money directly and the only time we had problems was during the postal strike when she didnt receive her cheque. She came to us a good two weeks before hand and explained the situation and all was fine.
I can assure you that as a landlord if she had gone and got HB and not told me, and i found out later due to some kind of problem i would not have been impressed. As it stands she is the best tenant i have ever had and i am happy to help her in anyway i can.
Another of our tenants is also a recent divorcee with 1 child, she pays her rent from the proceeds of the divorce or so i am told, but she has bad credit and several CCJ's because of the messy divorce. She volunteered 6 months rent up front and we were happy with this arrangement.
In my opinion Honesty is the best policy. You could always offer to pay a few months up front, not necessarily 6 months, since thats alot of money for most to part with in one go, but any amount more than the minimum shows a landlord that you're a serious tenant and worth giving a shot.
Hope it all goes well for you
Like guy says the money is paid directly to you not your landlord so he wouldn't know unless you tell him so.
(You are entitled to one bedroom for: · every adult couple (married or unmarried) · any other adult aged 16 or over · any two children of the same sex aged under 16 · any two children regardless of sex aged under 10
· any other child)
You are then paid the local rate for the property size – if you can find something cheaper you keep the difference – if you find something more expensive (or larger) you pay the diference.
Expect in very limited circumstances (serious arrears, proven high risk etc) the payment will be made directly to you. (into your bank account).
As long as the payments are made there should be no need for the LA to know how the rent is paid.
If, however, you are asked the question its up to you how to reply. At least with the new scheme being renamed you can legitimately say "I will not recive Housing Benefit" and not be lying !!!
Good luck