DSS Tenants – does this video say it all?

Robert Mellors sounds like me ha ha, mirror image of my business. Except I have to boast I've never rented, bought me first house when I was 18. Although I did live in Butlins accommodation when I worked there LONG time ago.

Being homeless, and being excluded from private renting due to being unemployed, and having no references (because of previously being a home owner rather that a tenant), being dependent upon welfare benefits, being unable to access council/housing association property as not considered to be "in priority need", and failing reference checks due to no income and several debts.... these are the sort of personal experiences that I've had, and they give me a great insight into the problems (and prejudices) faced by people who may be honest and hardworking but happen to be DSS tenants. Those prejudices and barriers are exactly the barriers that my tenants faced when searchinng for a home, and they are the barriers that I try to remove in my letting business - I set up and run an independent housing association (a "not for profit" housing company). This does sometimes backfire, and some tenants take advantage (for a while), but on the whole there is a great job satisfaction from helping people, it can be life changing for them, and while profit is necessary to keep it viable, the job satisfaction from helping people is more important to me. I respect any landlord who feels the same way, and that is perhaps why I've enjoyed reading all the comments on this post (and others on this forum).
This may make me sound like a bit of a soft touch, but I have learnt a lot over the years and the few "bad" tenants (for want of a better description), do not get away, I track them down and eventually recover the debt owed, e.g. via direct deductions from their benefits, or via their guarantors, or via debt recovery companies, or via the courts. I will go out of my way to help good tenants, and go out of my way to recover debt from bad tenants (including damages and costs).

Hi Robert,

Hope you have had a relaxing Christmas break?

I was just wondering how someone of your experience is going to be preparing for the roll out of Universal Credit?

Do you have any concerns? Are you attending any workshops on the topic? Will it change your strategy in any way?

All the best for 2014!

Hi Vanessa

Universal Credit (UC) is already having an effect, particularly the benefit cap, which has already massively reduced the Housing Benefit that some of my larger families are entitled to, e.g. one of my tenant families with 5 children in a 4 bedroom house in the West Midlands has had their Housing Benefit cut from £725 pcm to £48 pcm!!!

Several of my tenant families have had to rely on Discretionary Housing Payments to make up the difference, so the overall cost to the Council/Government is the same, but now it is at the council's discretion rather than being an entitlement, so it could be withdrawn at any time. The Government's aim is to force people off benefits and into work, so with such a dramatic drop in Housing Benefit it may well achieve this so long as the family is genuinely capable of working and jobs are available, but for some people jobs won't be easy to come by and it may well lead to evictions.

Thankfully I've not had to evict anyone due to Universal Credit (yet), but it is definitely changing the way I let properties, and who to. As larger properties become vacant I have been forced to consider whether I can re-let to families (DSS tenants), and in many cases I have had to convert properties into HMOs and let as rooms to single people.

Other changes in the letting strategy have included greater insistence on rent guarantors, and consideration of whether the family may be exempt from the UC benefit cap. I'm also considering secondary income options, e.g. letting out private garages separately (where part of a HMO property), and getting commission from the utility company.

As social housing tenants are hit by the bedroom tax, larger council or housing association properties are becoming more available, but accommodation for singles and couples is even more scarce, so the opportunity for renting properties is shifting towards renting to single people. Some families that were previously better off staying together may find that adult children are better off renting separately. This will actually increase the cost to the taxpayer in time, but I don't think the Government has considered this consequence of the combination of UC and the bedroom tax.

As to whether there is a need to be concerned........ very definitely yes, in my opinion all landlords that let to DSS tenants should be very concerned and definitely need to consider alternative letting strategies and secondary income from their properties/lettings.

Reply to the comment left by "Robert Mellors" at "29/12/2013 - 14:58":

Yeah, it’s first question I ask now, when they have 4 kids or more, whether they have disabled kid which exempts them from the cap.
I also am having to tell them the adult kid has to go elsewhere or if on DWP, we rent to him separately.
I’ve never had so many tenants brothers/sisters coming to live with them on settee & claiming HB for them which is costing Govt more ‘cause previously I’d have included them as part of the family.
I’ve had 6 kid woman give 2 kids up to friends which is now costing Govt Tax payer more. Nuts, the Govt should get on ground level with us to see what is actually happening in the real world.

Mick, brilliant examples. The government is forcing a system that is splitting families and ultimately costing the taxpayer more, as well as potentially having longer term social impacts, e.g. young adults no longer getting close family support and stability which is an important part of them maturing and learning about life - surely this could cause further problems in years to come, e.g. anti-social behaviour, mental health issues, extra use of community resources (NHS, emergency services, council services, etc), so there's not just the increased direct costs, but there is also the knock on effect. Sorry if giving a political opinion, but the government changes to the benefit system (UC and the benefit cap) is forcing landlords to reject large families, but those families still need housing one way or another.

Reply to the comment left by "Mick Roberts" at "30/12/2013 - 08:08":

I've let to one parent and one adult child before, in which case they become legally liable for the full rent each, but for Housing Benefit the total rent is split 50/50 and each one gets up to 50% of the total rent paid by HB. I've never tried this for a larger family unit, with adult children, how does this work? What problems do you encounter with the HB claims when doing this?

Reply to the comment left by "Robert Mellors" at "30/12/2013 - 09:04":

Ha ha, I daren't tell u on here, otherwise every Landlord will be doing it & the Govt will close the loopholes.
There is special ways where u can do it, if u do it wrong, HB can say you are taking advantage of HB, so has to be done a certain way, & send in certain text with the rent proof letter.
All perfectly legal, but certain HB staff don't like it, 'cause 95% of em han't seen it done this way before & they don't like paying out what they think is far too much for certain value house.
But if u get my number from Mark or Vanessa, I'm happy to talk u through it on the phone, I'll be back at work on the phone Thurs 8-5 or any normal Mon-Fri 8-5.

Hi Mick, I would love to find any way of not having to turn away families in need, so yes I would like to have a chat with you, but I'm not sure how to contact Mark or Vanessa direct so I hope they see this comment and will contact me direct and give me your phone number. Alternatively, you could find me on Facebook and contact me via that. (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to put my e-mail address on this forum).

Reply to the comment left by "Robert Mellors" at "31/12/2013 - 06:23":

Just found 7 Robert Mellors on Facebook, Facebooks usual hard search feature, no proper 'Just area' search.
Also don't know how to contact u direct via this site, so here's my Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/MickRobertsBoss