The terrible position councils put benefit renters in

The terrible position councils put benefit renters in

9:56 AM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago 23

Text Size

There is an article in I News yesterday titled “This single mother works full-time, but still needs housing benefit – so landlords refuse to rent to her”: click here to view.

The story is obviously about how difficult it was for a working mum to find a new home to rent after she was served a section 21 notice from her existing landlord.

However, the real juxtaposition to why benefits tenants have difficulty in finding landlords willing to take them on is shown in the advice it was reported the council gave the tenant before she moved out of her existing home:

“They told me to stay put. That if I moved out of the flat I was in it would be seen as me making myself voluntarily homeless and I wouldn’t be entitled to council housing. I explained that I had an eviction notice, but they said to wait until the landlord called the baliffs in. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”

The tenant, Limarra, subsequently ignored warning notices and contined to look for a new rental home without success or help from the council. This stress ended up seriously affecting her health. The council did later offer temporary accomodation only after the landlord obtained a possession order.

Limarra said: “They’d told me they would be able to find me temporary accommodation but the only two places available were a flat in Essex and another in Croydon, Surrey. If I didn’t accept one I would be taken off the housing list and be out on the street, so I said yes to the one in Croydon. There was no way I could travel from Essex to work each day and Nevaeh wouldn’t have been able to get to school.”

Limarra had to accept the property which had a cooker next to the bed and her daughter had to live with her grandmother.

Surely it must be obvious that Local Authorities refusal in most cases to work with landlords and often against them is a major factor in the difficulties and stress faced by benefit tenants?

Also see our recent readers question “Terrible time with council tenant and shock at how law treats landlords” Click Here


Share This Article


Comments

TheMaluka

12:45 PM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Alison King at 11/01/2019 - 12:33
Alison they may be excellent tenants as I am a good landlord but I cannot afford to take the risk , especially with Universal Credit.

AA

16:01 PM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago

You learn from your own mistakes. The smarter people learn from other peoples mistakes. There is no way in a month of Sundays I would ever rent to HB tenants. There psychological mindset , as you as a parasite being a landlord, alone would give me the insight to steer clear of this client base. They automatically think you are wealthy even though you are busting your a** to meet your obligations. They are always sweetness and light when they want a foothold into your property, but the minute they do, they will remind you in no uncertain terms about their rights in law and wont give a rats behind if they ruin you. After all they are just trying to bring you down to their level.

Seething Landlord

16:30 PM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago

I have every sympathy with the views of landlords who refuse to take tenants who are receiving housing benefit and the reasons have been well rehearsed in numerous different threads. In this case however the tenant's problems can all be traced back to the service of the S21 notice and there has been no mention of any underlying reason why the landlord needed or wanted to end the tenancy that had been running for 6 years or more. We can all speculate about that but on the face of it she is a victim of S21 and it is little wonder that pressure for its abolition is growing. To provide balance the news item should have included an explanation from the landlord of why he required possession and it will not surprise me if we soon see legislation requiring landlords to justify their actions.

Monty Bodkin

17:57 PM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 11/01/2019 - 16:30https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/working-homeless-mothers-horror-after-13402296
From the comments;
I know this as she's my niece.
....Snip....
She was always ahead in her rent with the landlords who then got greedy for more cash

Greedy?
Or just an obvious reaction to the recent huge tax increases and a shitstorm of useless legislation?

Monty Bodkin

18:16 PM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 11/01/2019 - 16:30S21 little wonder that pressure for its abolition is growing.
It has already been weakened so much to be unrecognisable from its original good purpose.
There is a direct correlation between 'No DSS' and the inability of a landlord to regain possession. And short-sighted council advice bears considerable responsibility for this.
Abolish it completely and landlords will react accordingly.

AA

21:47 PM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 11/01/2019 - 16:30
Eh....because it's his or her property .

Seething Landlord

22:43 PM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 11/01/2019 - 17:57
Thanks for that link, the response from her aunt certainly gives a clue to the reason for the S21, unfortunate that this was not mentioned in the original article, which simply said that the landlord wanted his property back. Whether the increase was justified or not the public perception is that landlords are greedy and this is what government is likely to respond to by introducing some form of rent control.

Seething Landlord

22:45 PM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 11/01/2019 - 18:16
I agree but doubt whether that will stop government from doing it.

Seething Landlord

23:03 PM, 11th January 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by AA at 11/01/2019 - 21:47
Yes I understand that point of view but the right to regain possession is becoming more and more restricted with every new regulation that is introduced. It is reports of this nature that will strengthen the resolve of many politicians to achieve greater security of tenure in the PRS.

AA

17:37 PM, 12th January 2019, About 5 years ago

These politicians need to understand something. We as landlords elect to provide this service. It's a choice, we are not compelled in law to carry out this work. There is a requirement for growth in this market and if that stalls through over regulation - that's when there will be a real housing crisis.

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now