its not 30 times the rent its 3 times the rent
It’s still crap regardless. Looking down upon as nothing… some ppl actually want to pay bills and rent private.
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Well it’s the usual thing isn’t it? The few spoil it for the many. But landlords do need to know that someone can pay the rent. What if your benefits are stopped or delayed for some reason? Could you still pay the rent? This also is the point of a guarantor.
I hope you are successful at finding a place soon.
Will the forces not help you at all?
Sorry that last reply was for the tenant, not Colin .
I wouldn’t want to rent if I couldn’t afford it and having a son. So i wouldn’t look for a place to move to unless I could pay
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Just advise that if benefits are stopped for any reason housing costs can still be paid by benefits as the application becomes a ZERO income claim. However it’s very rare that benefits are stopped with no explanation or investigation and even then 9 times out of 10 it would be the a reduction rather than a complete cancellation (again other than fraud).
Therefore, It’s worth noting that if rent was unpaid due to a tenants criminal/fraudulent behaviour it’s most likely they have also gained the tenancy through fraudulent means also.
However I do have empathy for landlords because because like it or not the majority of rented homes that are destroyed by neglect or just down right vandalism are caused by those people not paying their hard earned money but government money and before anyone jumps on me saying I’m being judgemental I am on benefits due to being disabled and I am desperate to move into a home with a garden (I’m in a very nice ground floor apartment) but because I’m on benefits I can’t even get viewings and even though being on disability benefits exempts us from insurance companies clause of accepting DSS isn’t relevant either so I’m trapped because of this stereotype and unfortunately I can’t see how it can be resolved. I only got my current landlord to rent to me through allowing him the opportunity to visit the home was in randomly at his convenience so he could see how I was living in that private rent like how clean it was and how well maintained the gardens were, he also spoke to my neighbours too and just to note I had to move because of my disability as I could no longer use stairs and it was a 4 storey town house.
It’s difficult and near impossible yet understandable.
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Man… I had no idea the law was so in favour of tenants here and it explains a lot. I just moved back to the UK from Canada where it is entirely the opposite situation. This sounds pretty much like a business methodology for the tenant as well as the lawyer and I wonder if the two of them have worked together before. Maybe consult court records in your area to find evidence of this and present it in court, the law IS the law but it still has to be interpreted and implemented by a judge and if they can see a total bending of the spirit of the law here they would most likely side with you. I get that you are in the thick of it right now and it may be hard to see a solution in your favour but when things get to the end point of a court case the law is very often implemented in a sensible manner as opposed to what some asshat lawyer threatens you with, they are not the law they just bastardize it in their favour and generally wish to settle rather than put their bs in front of a judge.
Best of luck.
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Can somebody tell me where I stand then? I have been renting my place for 8yrs now, living on my own & on a low wage Iv always been on Housing Benefit (HB) but over the yrs I became unwell & had to cut my hrs down until eventually I was unable to work! So for the last 5yrs Iv been on Benefits (including PIP & Disability Benefits) & as my Health Problems have slowly progressed over the last cpl of yrs (quite rapidly this year) my Disability Payments have increased because of it… I’m not going to die anytime soon (God I hope not!
) but the issues I do have wrong with me… There are no cures! And recently I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease… Again there’s no cure, for all my illnesses it’s just medication, therapy to help me to cope & live with these illnesses & treatments/procedures if & when needed! BUT as time goes by they will gradually get worse! Wahoooo! What joy! 
Haha!
Now ever since Iv lived here, the First Landlady loved this Flat… Opposite the Sea…but she had to sell it, however she felt so guilty, because she used to say I’d kept it in such “pristine condition” (her words not mine!) that she decided at first she would wait & sell it to someone who would want a “Sit-in-Tenant”… She’d give it 4-5 months but if it didn’t sell she would have no choice but to change it…
Luckily… The lady who bought it (she too like the first LL was from London) said she was looking for a place to use as her Retirement home & she wanted this place… So I was here for another 6yrs!..She bought it in 2015…
Fast forward to 2021…
In all the time (with BOTH LL’s) I have never ever called them down here from London to fix anything or do anything… Because Iv done it MYSELF! Bought & paid for things to be fixed/fitted here MYSELF!..eg: New kitchen taps, shower hose & head, under sink pipework, Locksmith called to fix Front door lock!..to name just a few! I keep all the old parts to show her when she comes here (to renew tenancy) & I keep all receipts and invoices to show her but Iv NEVER asked her for a penny & iv REFUSED every time she tried to pay me…WHY?.. Because I know this is her PROPERTY…but while I’m living here…its my HOME! So Iv always felt like the “little things” should be MY RESPONSIBILITY…
My rent is ALWAYS paid anytime up to a WEEK EARLY! (Due 2nd of each month… I always transfer it anytime between 22nd-30th the month BEFORE!)
My son has his own painting & decorating business (he has Portfolios of his Works that he shows ALL his Clients before anything!) & he will be doing some work for my LL… Free of charge… However… It will cost ME a Sunday Roast Dinner for him! 
Now HERE’S MY PROBLEM!..
I can 100% understand all LandLords/Lady’s NOT wanting to take in anyone on Benefits (DWP) Department of Work & Pensions… (that’s what it is now)
Anyway… Like I said… I get it… Cos yes, there are a hell of a lot of Benefit Claimants out there who abuse the system, do sod all to even deserve the benefits they get & just waste it on drugs/alcohol… AND live in what was once a perfectly lovely property but now looks like its about to appear on one of those “Nightmare Neighbours” TV Programmes… With half a car in the front garden, 53 black trash bags piled up the side of the house, frontdoor hanging off, windows boarded up, 12 kids all under 7yrs old in a 3 bedroom house!
And every single bloody one of those arsewipes give people like ME a bad name! 
I have been trying to find another Flat because my LL is moving down here now… I had until 1st June 2021 to find somewhere(LL was moving in on 2nd!)… But got nowhere with all the Letting Agents! So she put her Retirement off til end of the year! 
But it was EVERYTIME they saw Benefits… They was NOT INTERESTED!
*I ordered over a years worth of bank statements from Barclays to PROVE I pay my rent on time
*A Flat I applied for which was £650… I offered to up the Rent to £700 AND had a break down of my payments… My income, My outgoings etc because it was the end of May & I had to be out by 1st June!
*One Flat I put in for… The Agent showing me round was telling me how “desperate” they were to find a local P&D, I told her about my son, she took his card, everything was going thru fine… However they called my son & he said he was not able to take on any “Major Works” at the moment like they wanted (odd job here & there) but not whole blocks etc as he already has a lot of work scheduled in… Then after that, the Agent said the LL to the Flat had a change of mind & decided on someone else! (Really!)
*Iv asked every Letting Agents if they could ask the landlord/lady to meet me so they could get to know ME, the person… Not a piece of paper & a Suit Jacket… Talking ABOUT ME! Because even THE SUIT don’t know me, knows absolutely nothing about me plus they tell LL’s whatever they want them to hear! So somebody like ME will never catch a break with somebody like THEM!
SO…WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE!
Every single Letting Agents completely ignore me now! They don’t reply to my emails, they don’t return my calls, if they do actually answer they say… "Can you hang on for a minute & il call you straight back!.. They have never called me back! When Iv called them AGAIN & asked why they didn’t call back I’m just given the same crappy excuses!
They gave up on me cpl months ago yet I kept trying… But in a stressed & panicked state I just cried while on the phone to my daughter earlier & said… “I LIDDERALLY have no idea what to do now… Where to turn, who to speak to about everything!”
Because for 7 months Iv been turned down over & over & over again… & it does start to make you panic when you have a cpl of months left but know damn well your not going to get anywhere with Letting Agents!
And again… I understand LL’s not wanting to take on people on Benefits, but there’s one or two on here that make it sound like we are ALL THE SAME! Great!
Do you seriously think I LIKE having these things wrong with me! … Trust me if knew HALF of what happens to me:pleading_face:… I don’t think you’d wish it on your worst Enemy! I didn’t ASK to get ill, do you have any idea of the times I wish I could win the Lottery… My first thought isn’t to buy a home of MY OWN… its to FIND A CURE! FFS! Because YOU will NEVER have to live like this!
And as for the Deposit etc… There is no Deposit between me & my Landlady… 100%… THAT is how much she trusted ME from the absolute start… This Flat was with Miles & Barr & when my 2nd LL bought it & everything was finalised she got rid of M&B as she didn’t want any “third parties taking her money!” 
So when I got the deposit back from M&B I just kept it in my daughters savings account for a while but my new LL said “Well, isn’t it for damages & cleaning… What’s the point… You always clean & you always fix!”
So over the years the deposit got used!
And because I knew she’d be moving down, I started to save… I have £1,650 so far towards the deposit & first months rent!
I may be on Benefits & I may have Health Problems/Disabilities but I try to stay as independent as possible, I try to stay as positive as I can… But its becoming an impossibility now as time is running out, Letting Agents are a bunch of back stabbing liars & the “DickHead” Benefit Bums just make the rest of my life a WHOLE LOT WORSE…with their pathetic, idiotic, lazyarse ways, trashing perfectly good homes & making LL’s lives a living hell… Because the crap behaviour & attitude of the BBB’s (Bad Benefit Bums) will ALWAYS REFLECT BACK on people like ME… & we really don’t deserve it! 
Its so unfair! So like I said… Where do I/we go? 
xx
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Juanita,
Unfortunately the majority of landlords on here have zero social conscience. I do feel for you and have found myself in similar circumstances.
Culturally we need to make it harder for people to buy up properties and marganislise people who are disadvantaged, but still have the means to pay for rent.
People working can loose their job and have zero income. It’s a strawman argument.
This is NOT the place to come to for a reasonable or balanced conversation let alone to be heard.
I really dislike this ‘communuty’ and avoid it now. I suggest you do the same and preserve your sanity.
Have you contacted shelter? Also most local authorities run a bond scheme to help with renting and also have lists of landlords who rent to people on low income or who have health issues. You can also Google “private guarantors for renting” it costs money, but is affordable, and they will become a guarantor.
Best of luck.
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social concience should be with the local councils who SOLD OFF low cost properties to feather their nests deades ago. Landlords are NOT the social concience of the british housing market . They are PRIVATE individuals not public individuals
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I think you’ll find most letting agents exclude litigation from there remit.
It sounds like you’re one in a million, no make that a billion!
It’s very sad to hear decent and deserving tenants are having problems because of the reputation of the majority of bad HB tenants. I completely concur with your opinion of them, now think how much worse it is for the “considerate” landlords who get lumbered with them!! I’ve had more than my share.
BUT, lets not forget the council are the primary protagonists in this scenario. They have relinquished themselves of any involvement in the management of HB tenants, and the new UC payments do not allow for direct rent payments to landlords, not that its made a huge difference, since the old HB could be redirected to the tenant at any time upon his/hers request.
If you, and other deserving benefits tenants wish for things to change, start talking to your local councilor, and impress upon them that if they seriously wish to provide support for said tenants, then it’s high time they revised the social tenant rules and processes. After all, the housing benefit is there for the sole purpose of paying the rent to secure a roof over your heads, so why should it not be paid directly to the landlord as a matter course, and completely outside the influence of the benefit tenant. I would even go further and say their living allowance benefits should be provided by way of food, cloths and travel coupons, just to be controversial.
Finally, you would stand a much better chance of securing a property if you could provide a financially secure guarantor.
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Chris 35 Very good answer . Totally agree. Love the coupon idea
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Hi Victoria,
Thank you so much for your message!
Sorry for the late reply… Unfortunately it’s been the usual “health issues” that’s kept me a bit “busy” … I gotta laugh & have a good sense of humour about it all otherwise I’d spend half my time crying my eyes out & the other half wondering if my Mom would be there to meet me at the Golden Gates! 
… But knowing Momma…
She’d whoop my Butt all the way back down those “Pearly Stairs” yelling at me… “GIRL… When I said you needed Jesus… I didn’t mean LIDDERALLY COME UP & FIND HIM!” …
(I miss my Mom, it’s times like this id of been on the phone to her everyday & she’d be telling me how Lifes full of challenges & I shouldn’t worry because iv overcome every challenge throughout my life & I will overcome THIS ONE as well… “So Poppet, be patient & a new place to live will turn up when you least expect it!” I can hear her voice now! 
But back to the subject of concern, I’m still no further with getting a Flat anywhere & that’s WITH a Guarantor…iv always had one!
My Sister-in-Law (well she will be as soon as all these Covid regulations can be bit more relaxed, hopefully next year my brother can finally add a Wedding ring to her Engagement ring!) 
She’s a home owner AND the Manager of a Care Home, iv given all the agents her details etc… But again… Not good enough!
Do you know what id love to do… If I didn’t have these health problems?.. Get a professional make-up artist to “whiten” me up, put a blonde or light colour wig on, put blue colour contact lens in… Then go into every Letting Agents (secretly recording of course! Need proof for my TV Documentary! )… AND THEN…
Go in again a cpl days later as MYSELF (Janet Jackson look-a-like 
haha!) & do pretty much the same thing I done when I went in undercover as “Britney Spears”
Because you will be surprised how nice & sweet & kind they are to my face but in actual fact they LIDDERALLY BULLSHITTING to me!
How do I know?.. Because several times in town iv spoke to someone I know who’s looking to move & they’ve come from Letting Agents iv been in & after swapping stories over coffee, turns out the Flats I enquired about that were “about to be taken off the market because we have enough applicants we need to go thru!” … Were the very same Flats my friend was told to fill out an application form!
I did put a complaint in with one… Miles & Barr, but I got the usual loada crap back from them, about how they DO NOT TOLERATE ANY FORM OF DISCRIMINATION… RA RA RA! And how “sorry” they are for any “misunderstandings” but they just avoided the whole issue of why I was told that this Flat had enough applicants already… But my friend goes in AFTER ME & is told to fill out an application form! WTF is that all about!?
But to chase up ALL the Letting Agents & argue my case would be way too much for me to manage, it would be exhausting & take its toll on me & id end up back in Hospital, that’s why I don’t bother with them anymore… They’re not worth risking my Health any further! 
So the only thing I can do is what my Mom used to tell me… “Be patient… & ??? will come when you least expect it!” … And in this case, a new Flat!
However, I do look at her photo everyday & remind her iv only got a cpl of months left here, but ideally I wanted to be out by 1st December…
I’m pretty sure I keep catching her “rolling” her eyes at me!…
Well Victoria IF I do get anywhere I will come back & let you know!
Take Care 
I have ALWAYS had a Guarantor… & ALL the Letting Agents have known this because it’s my soon to be Sister-in-Law, who is a Home Owner AND Manager of a Care Home! Iv given them ALL HER DETAILS…
None of it made a blind but of difference!
DISCRIMINATION?.. YEP! Right at the top of the list!
And iv got the printed out “Transcripts” to prove it, so yeah, I could talk to my local Counsellor about it all & I can also hand over these print-outs, explain EVERYTHING & ask him/her to pull all Letting Agents up about how they treat people on Benefits!
Because of my Health being as “unstable” as it is due to the auto-immune disease, arguing my case with the Letting Agents will just take its toll on me & put me back in Hospital… & they are NOT worth that happening again so I don’t bother with them now!
You legally have to use a deposit protection scheme now. But you’re right, credit checks and affordability checks. I’ve just had a young lady apply to rent a flat. Told me she’s a beauty therapist. Great thought me. She’s got a good career with money coming in….. I thought she’d made a mistake between weeks and months re income. Seems not! £1k pm income and thought she could rent a flat and live. Parents couldn’t guarantor because ‘disabled’ and on benefits so we declined. But she thought she was going to run her business from our flat I think.
We’ve all ‘given someone a chance’, and the last time we did it backfired so NEVER AGAIN!
So peeps…….credit checks and affordability checks please!
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FYI, yes some councils do give a deposit bond which we’ve used in the past, but if/when there’s damage, they don’t cover it. Although, I’m not sure I’ve ever deducted any deposit….ever!
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I said the majority, also predominantly referring to the ones we landlords see frequently. So, no, it’s not an assumption.
We’re business people, not social workers or charities! I conduct myself and my business completely ethically and morally, so please keep your uninformed aspersions to yourself. Private landlords certainly cannot be expected to take on the governments social responsibility. If they wish to house social tenants in private housing, they should adjust their policies to reflect their responsibilities. We pay our taxes like anyone else, which is what contributes to the social pot, so why do you think we should take individual responsibility, as private landlords, to support these tenants, without some reasonable measure of protection from said social pot?
I might also add, that I am still housing HB tenants occasional, when they are genuine “in need” people, and have a guarantor and cash deposit.
I have a tenant who’s been in my property for many years, who fell on hard times. Having contracted cancer and not being able to work, ended up claiming benefits. Running up a debt on the rent account, my agents were going to chase her up, to which I told them not to, instead I wrote directly to the tenant advising her not to worry about the rent until she could manage it. I also gave her some part time work, which she requested, to help out financially, and she always paid a bit extra each month towards clearing the debt. I finally came to an arrangement to increase her rent, which had remained unchanged in 9 years, and I am using the rent uplift to clear her debt for her, so she doesn’t stress over it anymore.
But hey, don’t you worry yourself about your insulting / abusive and uninformed message. As with anyone else, you’re entitled to your opinions, albeit misguided, and that coming from a proclaimed psychologist, judgmental and uneducated I think were the terms you used!!
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I ALWAYS insist on meeting with prospective new tenants, and base my judgements on this meeting as well as the credit checks, refs and affordability checks. In fact, we prefer tenants to stay long term with our longest tenants being with us for over 30 years. You haven’t said where you’re based. Are there any landlords known to you you could go to directly and ask if they’ve a property becoming vacant?
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From what you’ve written, It is obvious you are a responsible and decent person and genuinely deserving of support from the SS, and more than fit for one of my properties.
I agree wholeheartedly there is a lot of unwarranted, instant discrimination out there and, as in your case, quite objectionable.
With your previous history, good landlord references, cash deposit and a guarantor, you could have one of my properties tomorrow, if available, but I doubt you live in W. Yorks.
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