DSS Tenants – does this video say it all?

It's interesting you mention Eastern Europeans Jonathan. As you know, my wife is Russian. When I first visited her homeland I was intrigued at communism and subsequently socialism affected their housing policy. In simple terms, properties were allocated on as "as per needs" basis. My wife grew up with her sister and her parents in a one bad flat. That was all the "needed" according to the authorities. The parents had the bedroom, the sisters could share a bed settee in the lounge! It was a real eye opener for me and made me realise how lucky we are to have been born in the UK. It certainly made me realise why Eastern European tenants are far more familiar with the concept of sharing than the Brits are.

Give us a call next week mick.....I'm diss 50 plus tenants!

07831863544

Thanks
Jason

Reply to the comment left by "Jason" at "06/07/2013 - 06:00":

Is that mean't for me? I'll bell u this morning when I'm on me travels.

As the BBC 1 programme "Meet the Landlords" last night largely focussed on the lower end of the market much like the original video, I wonder if viewers would understand the need for this type of accommodation and justify it, as it is largely paid for by the tax payer?

Do you think the programme was balanced and showed landlords in a positive light?

Read my full review of the programme here:

http://www.propertytribes.com/new-bbc-1-programme-meet-the-landlords-t-8517-2.html#pid97891

Mick, what did you think of the programme?

Do you think it might have put some people off becoming landlords?

Reply to the comment left by "Vanessa Warwick" at "19/07/2013 - 09:49":

I han't watched it yet, recorded it yet, missus & kid said It's one of them we want to watch on holiday at night, so not be watching it for a few weeks on me Archos AV700Tv-U should get one Mark amount of globe-trotting u do, great machines.
Anyway, back to business, yeah, I've had some phone calls & texts off mates saying surprised they din't see me on the programme & that I've seen it all before, so I gather it's the similar kind of dealings I have to put up with.

Plus and laugh with me here, nearly ALL my mates, colleagues, builders, say after they see the crap I have to put up with, & the mess some of the tenants live in, they all say would not do what I do, it puts them off renting houses & my mates that have got houses have tried renting to HB for a year or two & then go back to working tenants. I do like working with my lot, but it is time consuming sometimes & maybe another 5 years or so, I may reduce my HB lot, or go for better quality HB, those that can get guarantor's etc., so I can leave 'em with agent or set an office up, so I too can have more time to globetrot, instead of running round like a blue ar__d fly, the day before I go on holiday & get informed one of my tenants has done a bunk.

Just read all 10 pages of this discussion.... very entertaining and informative. I also let to DSS tenants and licensees, have had more than my fair share of tenants causing severe damage (sometimes malicious, sometimes through their lifestyle or negligence), BUT I also have some wonderful DSS tenants who I would happily go out of my way to help.

Most of my properties are in Nottinghamshire and Sheffield, so I understand Mick's dialect very well.

Reply to the comment left by "Robert Mellors" at "20/12/2013 - 22:44":

Yes, that's what some people get confused of, with these forums, there are some s__ts out there, but I too have some great tenants. Got a gal this week been with me 10 years doing a swap into another house, hopefully will have her another 10 years.
But the good ones don't make interesting reading do they.

I think this year I've had two house wrecks, & that's not too bad in the scheme of things.

I think this thread highlights how diverse our industry is, both in terms of the kind of people who become landlords and the kind of tenants that are out there.

I regard that as very healthy.

Hearing about other people's strategies and experiences is very valuable for newbies entering the market place. They are the landlords of the future.

Property is never a case of "one size fits all" so thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread and made it such a great learning experience for all of us.

I was a DSS tenant when I first became a landlord back in the 90s (strange as this sounds), and I have also experienced homelessness, and it was these experiences, and particularly the difficulties of getting private landlords to offer me a tenancy (when a DSS claimant), that lead me to later set up my landlord business and focus on helping DSS tenants. I now have 57 tenancies, and about 85% of my tenants are DSS, with the other 15% being low income workers.

None (virtually) of my residents would pass a referencing check, as they all have one or more of these: multiple debts, a history of homelesssness, dependent on welfare benefits, offending history, drug/alcohol dependency issues, etc, etc. These may not be everyone's "ideal" tenant, but they need landlords to give them a chance (and sometimes some extra support), and they can turn out to be wonderful long term tenants (my longest tenancy is now over 15 years).

I've had some tenants who have trashed houses or left them full of rubbish or needing a deep clean, even causing over £5k worth of damage (on three occassions in 16 years of landlording), but these are occassional and are not reflective of the majority of DSS tenants, and like has already been said these destructive tenants can also occur among professional/working tenants as well.

Landlords are diverse, as are the tenants, some are good and some are bad, (for both groups), so all we can do is encourage the good ones and oust the bad ones. The few bad ones give a bad reputation to all the others, and that applies equally to both landlords and tenants!

Bravo! Robert. Well said!

Yes, I was a tenant before I became a home owner and later a landlord.

I cannot abide this "them and us" and "have and have not" attitude perpetrated by the likes of Shelter and often the media too.

Landlords provide a huge amount of choice in the PRS and can often provide higher standards of accommodation than social housing.

I have had quite a few rants on this topic during 2013 so will not be ranting now. 🙂

But I will say that people like yourself, and your above post, with compassion and understanding of others, make me proud to be a landlord ...