Tenants and Housing Benefit and the lender

Tenants and Housing Benefit and the lender

10:20 AM, 10th March 2016, About 8 years ago 27

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I have a client doing a re-mortgage on an existing let; lender is Skipton Building Society. They stipulate the tenants must not be in receipt of DSS. They’re not, but it raises the question:no dss

“What if a tenant goes on to claim benefits, including housing, after the tenancy has commenced?”

Logically thinking, this must cause an automatic breach for the landlord with the lender.

And the more we thought about it, the more we came to realise that we cannot say 100% hand on heart that we know all of the tenants under our care claiming housing. Our local council does not always contact the agent or landlord, particularly where the claim is only a partial rent amount.

The AST we use came from ARLA. We’ve added to it as new legislation has come into force, but no where in it does it say “thou shalt not claim benefit” nor be required to tell us if they did.

So, we thought of adding a clause requiring us to be told. But then we looked at the 17 grounds for possession, and found that only Ground 12 (allows possession where the tenant breaks one or more obligations under the tenancy agreement) could be relied on, but this is a discretionary ground.

So my question, does anyone use such a clause, or better, has anyone been in a situation where the lender has gone after a landlord where a tenant has later claimed assistance? And what was the outcome?

Mark


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Comments

paul johnson

11:24 AM, 15th March 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Ollie Smith" at "15/03/2016 - 10:39":

I don't want to get into conspiracy theories but seems straightforward to me that the government could make it illegal for mortgage and insurance companies to discriminate on the basis of income which also includes housing benefits

Mrs Loon

11:37 AM, 15th March 2016, About 8 years ago

Hi all, I have a tenant who has a year lease at £625 per month. He has decided to only pay £500 per month. I always have to chase him to get the other £125. It is always over 2 weeks late. This time I have been very clear that we are not happy about the late balance and it is creating a black mark against his name for our records. He is now starting to get nasty and making excuses for not paying such as the communal door being stiff! We are always very quick to deal with things if informed but this being a communal door as with any dripping gutter etc we would need to have quotes and agreement of the other owners, there is also the question of acting as a factor... Yes we are happy to repair the door but he could in an old property always find something. Can he legitimately withhold rent here? Also can I give him notice to quit for being in arrears of part rent?

Chris Byways

13:55 PM, 15th March 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Colin McNulty" at "15/03/2016 - 10:08":

As there is no such thing as DSS now, try asking them for precisely which benefits you MUST evict tenants for. I take it they will be kind enough to wait for this initial fixed term to expire. Winter fuel payment? DLA? SSP?

If they go too far, they will trigger a change in the law such we can't evict those professional loafers that have no intention of working, just because they ARE on some benefit.

Mandy Thomson

14:04 PM, 15th March 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Ollie Smith" at "11/03/2016 - 12:25":

That will also mean you can't let to anyone who lives alone because they will claim the single occupier's council tax discount benefit.... 🙂

Mandy Thomson

14:07 PM, 15th March 2016, About 8 years ago

As the Department of Social Security is now defunct, does this not mean the clause on the agreement is also invalid, if it only refers to "DSS"...?

15:23 PM, 15th March 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mandy Thomson" at "15/03/2016 - 14:07":

I nearly put something similar in my original post but thought better of it.

21:14 PM, 15th March 2016, About 8 years ago

What is the exact wording in the lender's t&cs?

There are 2 likely interpretations:

1. You must never 'let' to DSS i.e. never grant a tenancy to DSS. What happens after that does not put you in breach.

2. If a T ever ends up on DSS regardless of whether you know or permit it you are in breach.

Most lenders have 'up the sleeve' small print just in case they go belly up and need to call in the loan book.

All they would need to do is search a few databases to identify if any tenants ever got DSS. A positive match would mean reposession. CRAs now data-match with DSS.

Before you take the loan write to the lender and get clarification on exactly what they mean and under what circumstances they would consider it a breach. Make it clear that if their interpretation is number 2 you consider their mortgage unfit for purpose because in order to comply with the terms you can never let to any person who may at some furure time become a claimant. Therefore there would be almost zero acceptable tenants. Report it to the FCA and FOS as a SCAM.

Please let us know what they say.

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