10:47 AM, 10th March 2022, About 3 years ago 40
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Shelter are doing webinars on: The Renters’ Reform Bill Q&A session is scheduled for 30 March 18:30 – 19:30 and will be run over Zoom Click here
Rebalancing the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords. By driving up standards, landlords will know what’s expected of them, and we hope that the new tenancies that are introduced when Section 21 is scrapped are really clear for both landlords and tenants.
The DSS Q&A session is scheduled for 27 April 18:30 – 19:30 and will be run over Zoom Click here
We have done lots of work with mortgage providers to remove ‘no DSS’ clauses and consequently, over 99% of providers now no longer have this clause. We’ve worked directly with the insurance industry, who have assured us that there are a whole range of insurance policies readily available and at a reasonable cost, to cover letting to a tenant who receives benefits.
Dear Shelter,
I’m the biggest Benefit Landlord in Nottingham, u do know about me, yet it’s completely baffling how you’ve still not picked up the phone to talk to see WHY we ain’t taking benefit tenants anymore.
U ain’t helping. We didn’t have these homeless problems pre-2015 before all the landlord attacks.
U supported Selective Licensing, and that’s been the biggest cause of homeless in Nottingham since the Queen took reign.
Landlords love Licensing for the income it brings, it’s given them a Licence to print money in extortionate rents. We have no competition, because of Govt and Councils and yourselves calling for more regulation.
Every Anti Landlord regulation the Govt & Councils & yourselves have called for, has cut supply & made it worse & more expensive for tenants, especially Benefit tenants. I used to love helping Benefit tenants. I no longer can because of all these policies.
Benefit tenants can’t afford these extortionate rents anymore which Landlords command, some because they have to, some because they think Screw u I’m charging more now, & some just because they can cause 50 working people queuing for every property – Benefit tenants don’t get a look in.
Ooh & some, because if u want New Build Standards, you gonna pay New Build rents.
You are too besotted by the minority bad landlords & areas that you are forgetting the massive majority that u don’t hear about that haven’t got a problem.
When this section 21 gets banned, u watch rents spiral upwards yet again. Councils won’t take tenants anymore when more Sections 8’s get issued cause that’s intentionally homeless.
U thought Landlords weren’t taking Benefit tenants cause of mortgage restrictions & insurance? And what’s happening now? Ooh, Landlords are still refusing Benefit tenants. Wake up Shelter, come & ask us why. Landlords are telling u all sorts of excuses, because u will prosecute them if u don’t like the answer.
Gees, u have no idea. I want to be your friend. People like me have been housing your clients for 25 years & you are pushing us away. U make it better for that one tenant that rings u, consequently u then make it worse for the next 1000 tenants with another anti-landlord ruling or reg.
Simple one for u, who does it help when the Judge chucks it out of court because the Landlord has no proof he gave a boiler certificate 6 years ago? And he’s had a new boiler since, so it’s a completely irrelevant certificate for the old boiler.
It helps that ONE tenant. But u know afterwards, when the Landlord has spent another £1000 on court fees & solicitors & he eventually gets his house back, he sells the ruddy thing & the next Landlord don’t take any less than perfect working tenant again & charges the earth.
You should be coming to ask us and saying Mick, what can we do for u that is going to make u not sell all your houses and what can we do to entice more landlords in as we in the crap here, our hostels are full too and not emptying.
We’re sorry we wanted all your 50-year-old houses to have New build standards, we didn’t realise that would result in impossible rents for benefit tenants.
Few extracts below & link herein
https://docs.google.com/document/d/111cUAfUbS8mdHI1uOoE_V3i6zRZnp1JJXjd4yQeTXXs/edit?usp=sharing
from pieces I & other Landlords have written on the issues u need to solve. Long I know. But work with us and rents will reduce.
I am emailing u privately these long bits.
Mick Roberts
Seething Landlord
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Sign Up17:45 PM, 15th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Rod at 15/03/2022 - 17:03
Rod, how would you demonstrate that a S21 was not due to rent arrears without specifying the true reason?
I was not aware that Shelter et al claim that S21s are mainly used for rent arrears, their usual stance is that they are used in "no fault" cases - in fact the propaganda has been so successful that the term has been adopted by Government and even appears in the Court documentation. It is the argument that is used to support its abolition.
Reluctant Landlord
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Sign Up9:39 AM, 16th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Jonathan Clarke at 14/03/2022 - 03:27
I now this probably sounds daft, but having had only DSS tenants to date, I'm wondering how safe it is to have private tenants these days!
At least with UC the rent gets paid direct (I always have this in place and agreed) so even if they stop paying top ups at lease I have some income. If a private stops paying ...that it - nothing tiil you get them out and then you have to pay more to chase them for the debt.
Any words of wisdom here?
Grumpy Doug
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Sign Up10:46 AM, 16th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by DSR at 16/03/2022 - 09:39
Depends on demand in your area. A home owning guarantor is a must for me. Any time I get a "wobble", a reminder of that fact always ensures the rent gets paid.
Seething Landlord
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Sign Up11:35 AM, 16th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by DSR at 16/03/2022 - 09:39
It all boils down to risk management, regardless of how the rent is funded. UC can be cut off without warning, tenants can lose their jobs, get overwhelmed by debt or go rogue in various ways.
The principles are simple: identify the risks to which you are exposed, minimise them as far as possible (pre-tenancy due diligence) decide what level of risk you are able and willing to bear yourself and protect against the rest e.g. rent guarantee, legal expenses, property and liability insurance, property owning guarantor.
If the residual risk is more than you have an appetite for, do not offer a tenancy.
Mick Roberts
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Sign Up11:45 AM, 16th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by DSR at 16/03/2022 - 09:39
Yes fair point. And some Landlords haven't received all the rents in the last 2 years whereas many of us UC Landlords have.
But we know UC stops sometimes, not a lot, but boy when it does, talking to them robots at UC is mind boggling.
I've just had Welfare Delivery MP Sir David Rutley apologise for giving wrong info in this article:
https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/news/exclusive-landlords-win-apology-from-minister-over-universal-credit-muddle-and-promise-to-improve-rent-arrears-payments/
Yet would u believe (well u would with UC) a UC advisor has just made the same mistake:
Hello XXXX
Deductions for arrears are paid monthly, not 4 weekly.
Please check your UC statements, this will show how much we send for your rent deductions.
Regards
And I see Seething says the same.
Reluctant Landlord
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Sign Up13:27 PM, 16th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Grumpy Doug at 16/03/2022 - 10:46
no chance of a home owning guarantor in the areas I let in. No choice than to stick with UC tenants then. SIGH
Jonathan Clarke
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Sign Up19:53 PM, 16th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by DSR at 16/03/2022 - 09:39I have both and don`t really favour one over the other . They both have pros and cons . DWP can cut off the UC supply on a whim or likewise can give you a government backed guaranteed income year after year . An employer can sack you on the spot or likewise give you a pay rise and extend your contract .
I focus more on the person when i interview them rather than the source of their rent . If the person is good and true and i can sense a trust there then they will sort the rent out for you be that from UC or a wage.
Both are in any case within 24hrs of their position suddenly altering
A UC tenant can get a job tomorrow and a wage earner can lose their job tomorrow .
What is much less likely in my view to change in that 24hrs is their life long personality . That normally remains fairly steady and consistent
I had a tenant go to prison on remand once ( long story ) but they still made sure I got paid . They gave me permission to go in their flat to retrieve their debit card and I gave it to their solicitor who arranged with them to get the rent to me . They are out now and still with me today .
10 years and counting - Been in 3 different properties of mine
The Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey is a good book .
Trust is the one thing that changes everything
Bristol Landlord
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Sign Up21:42 PM, 16th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 11/03/2022 - 10:26Dear Mick, did you not get the email?
There is upcoming government legislation to make it illegal for a Landlord to retire.
Landlord has to work until age of 90, unless Alzheimer’s Disease or Heart Attack gets him first. Eldest child of Landlord then has to continue the business. If no child available then Landlord is considered to have committed a civil offence and will be sued by Shelter, Gen Rent and LA for failure to provide services to future unidentified potential tenants who have been deprived of a future potential home.
Sentence could be an unlimited fine.
Also potential criminal charges of defrauding the future unknown tenants out of a home.
Sentence could 10 years imprisonment and unlimited fine.
If Landlord can’t pay, after guaranteed loss in Court, then his properties are confiscated and legal ownership transferred to the Local Authority.
So there you have it, the future predicted.
Even George Orwell never thought of this.
Mick Roberts
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Sign Up7:08 AM, 17th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Jonathan Clarke at 16/03/2022 - 19:53
And the frustrating thing is Jonathan, with a working person, we can generally talk & resolve.
With a UC person-& I have some brilliant UC people as do u- we can still talk to the UC person, however they are not in control of the procedure that pays the rent-The same rent that pays the mortgage.
And we know when that procedure goes faulty & interprets information wrong & then gives out wrong information (I only had one yesterday-UC work coach put it in writing totally wrong information, the same wrong information that the Welfare Delivery MP apologised to me last month for-https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/news/exclusive-landlords-win-apology-from-minister-over-universal-credit-muddle-and-promise-to-improve-rent-arrears-payments/ ), there is no way I can talk to this UC coach who is giving out wrong information. This particular case, £32 is coming out tenants money every month to be paid to me, but I'm not receiving it. I want to tell UC. We are telling UC through the tenants journal, but the UC work coaches & case managers when they getting asked difficult questions by the claimant/tenant, they just stop answering after a bit. And we have no recourse or complaint procedure to do anything.
And yes Trust is massive. Stick to our word & we will go far.
Mick Roberts
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Sign Up7:08 AM, 17th March 2022, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Bristol Landlord at 16/03/2022 - 21:42
Yes Bristol, they forgetting we human too. We get older. We get weary. We've done our bit. Can we not slow down too?
Ha ha Civil offence yes. What, u wish to sell your house cause you've not made any money for 20 years, but u now can make it when sell it? How dare u. No u must go on providing accommodation at cost & not allowed to now get your benefit. And u must still be on call 24 hours a day when u reach age 70.