No job + no guarantor = No Home and Crisis wonder why?

In addition to the above 33 councils have adopted Article 4, some boroughwide, which prevents investors to set up any new HMO's.

Some Lenders and also some Buy-to-let Insurers won't let you rent to persons claiming benefit, be sure to check all the small print of your mortgages and your insurance policies otherwise you could come unstuck.
I lost faith in the benefit system years ago when renting to benefit claimants.
Where will all these people find accomodation?
It's a disgrace, but I won't be picking up the pieces thank you !!
- That may sound very un-christmas-like, but I 've been bitten before by the tenants redirecting the rent back to themselves without telling me, and not again thank you!!
That only touches the tip of the iceberg of what is hidden beneath the surface of taking on "less than perfect" tenants - a bag of worms, I would say.
It is not surprising we, landlords, are steering clear of as much trouble as we possibly can.

PS. Mark is a fab guy, I've spoken to him once, dealt with a company he runs/ran, got some of my lending through it! - cheers Mark for all the hard work you put in !

Very neatly stated Mark; encapsulates what I have been stating for months.

The answer though is staring us in the face.

Allow direct payment of rent with no clawback allowed unless the DWP and council can prove in court beyond reasonable doubt that the LL was conspiring jointly with the tenant to defraud the DWP or Council.

Instant removal by the police once 1 month an 1 day in rent arrears, if the LL so desires it.

Everything else can remain the same.

Just these 2 things will instantly restore balance to the whole system and you will then have LL willing to let to DSS as they now have the 2 items mentioned above able to be enforced.

Of course we know that these 2 most important factors will NEVER be addressed by the poiwers that be and as you mention DSS tenants will find it increasingly difficult to source rental property in the PRS

It's the old story of a bad minority spoiling it for the vast majority.

Most DSS tenants are good tenants.

The experience of LL with bad DSS tenants has been enough to put them off taking them as tenants because of the issues of rent receipt and then eviction problems.

It is as plain as the nose on one's face what needs to happen.

Why do the authorities continue to ignore these 2 major issue which everyone in the industry know about but seemingly the govt is not aware of amongst also the housing charities, who all seem oblivious as to what is going on.

It would also be help if the govt could take BTL mortgage lenders to task, to lift the restrictions they have on LL letting to DSS tenant.

If govt managed succesfully to resolve these problems i believe it would have a massive transformative effect on the whole letting industry.

It would encourage new entrants into the industry and would open up far more supply to ALL types of tenants

WILL IT HAPPEN!!!?????

NO, NO, NO,NO,NO,NO, think you get the message!!!!!?? ALL

Hi I had two bad tenants over the years. One a business owner the other DSS. Nearly all my tennants are DSS either I have been very lucky, so far alot of my tennants get paid direct them send it to me.

When I go to my properties I am very impressed at the way they have been looking after my properties often making improvments.

I look at the market rent, reduce the amount I charge sounds mad but works out a lot cheaper than voids. I try and get repairs done quickly result happy tennants that don't want to move win win for all.

If my tennant has a problem I listen and understand we can all be short of money normally with in th week we are all square.

I really like Paul Barretts idea if only the authorities would do it.

Merry Xmas to all and to Mark for his site I learn a lot on here.

I have fallen foul to this also, just recently. I took on a housing benefit tenant in May last year. I have not had any payment whatsoever for this property to date. The property needed some work doing at the beginning so rather than take a deposit I let the tenant's father do the work that needed doing. Since then, I have tried to pursue the rent over the months, and just had all sorts of excuses about problems claiming housing benefit etc. My response to each of them was 'I don't care what problems you may be having, the fact is the rent is owed to me and I don't care how it is paid as long as it is'. Sadly however it just doesn't work. The section 8 route is a no go as how can you prove the rent hasn't been paid? So it seems my only option is to issue a section 21 at the end of the tenancy in May. Great! 12 months without rent, and to add insult to injury the front door has since been kicked in, apparently by her ex-boyfriend. So come May, I'll have to apply to the courts to get her out, and then wait until I can get bailiffs involved as I doubt she will leave quietly. That's the reason we don't let to housing benefit tenants. I've learnt the lesson the hard way.

I agree that we will not see a reversal and that Direct Payments are a thing of the past. However, I do think a change in the law is required to encourage investment into the provision of housing for benefits claimants, particularly under 35 year old singles. With the immense pressure that Charities can bring to bear this just MIGHT be achievable.

Sorry to hear this all too familiar story Anthony. Presumably there was no financially stable person acting as guarantor for this tenancy? This is a classic case for why it needs to be a crime for people to misappropriate housing benefits. It's no wonder that 98.5% of landlords are now say no more!

living in the real world can be very difficult for some charities, governments and council housing departments.

we may have to resort to RENT BOOKS. upon every payment made, both the LL and tenant sign the book. no signature no evidence of payment.. but the book must be from the start of the tenancy and every tenant must have one. landlord keeps the books.

I watched Will Smith's film "The Pursuit of Happyness" again over Christmas. Now that's how things should be. Give people an incentive to get off their backsides.

I've just got back from a friends wedding in the Cotswolds. Amazing hotel and service but not one of the accents of the staff was English. Why are these people working whilst English people are not? Are they really so much better at Customer service or is it that they have an INCENTIVE to work?

it's called " work ethic "

the belief that the world is your slave and you are it's master. might have been the case 200 years ago but ....times have changed.

so now we have a delusional minority that believes they have no need to work as they do not have to work.