Unemployed on UC & PIP, can pay rent but rejected for viewing houses on the pre application stage. Please help

Sorry unsure if this is the correct place to put this in.

I am trying to move out of my shared place into a place where I can live alone.

I am unemployed (unable to work due to health issues and mental illness) however I do have savings, I receive UC & PIP. I am able to pay rent as I have been doing for the last four years in my shared place the reference from this place will attest to that.

Yet I can not get past the pre application stage with property agencies to even view a place. I don’t know what to do? Should I lie and say I work? And then after I view the place update the status to unemployed?

I have worked out what I get yearly, I put that down, I say the truth and that I have savings and that I am on benefits and that a reference will prove that I can pay and have been doing for the last four years at my current shared place, yet nothing.

If anyone is in my position or has been, do you have any advice? I really want to move out and can’t even get my foot out of the door to view potential places.

Don’t lie
You will get caught out and if you lie at the beginning no one will touch you
Unfortunately this government are cutting welfare benefits and bringing in indirect rent control
As inflation and cost of living increase , your benefits won’t match up to the market rent and impending regulations, put on landlords, that will need revenue to keep up with MEES
Although the government says they are there for people in your situation they have made it much worse because you are about to take a huge hit in payment in real terms

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Im also struggling with the same issue, All I can see from the new renting bill , is a whole host of ‘backdoor’ exclusions… A landlord may not be able to discriminate in an advert, but he/she sure as hell isnt going to play fair… Im on benefits and I have dogs… I can apply for property and this is what Im told… you don’t pass affordability, not suitable for dogs.. do they really think im looking for unsuitable accommodation for the dogs?.. I am 60… and facing being homeless! I read what landlords have to say and I see no empathy or understanding and defiantly no willingness to help… a working person is no guarantee that a landlord will have a good tenant nor is a healthy bank account… Im stuffed and have no idea which way to turn…

If I was facing being homeless and it was dogs that was preventing me from finding a place, I know what I’d do…

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As long as you could afford my place, that wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. Not all LLs care about where the income comes from.

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I’m thinking about going to the council to get a home. I’m just worried about it all as I’ve never gone that route before

What would you do? if your pets were in my position?

No question, I’d find alternative homes for them. I have pets myself (cats) and while I love them and they provide a great deal of emotional support, they’re not my priority in life, certainly not to the detriment of me finding a home to live in.

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the best thing to do is stay where you are now

You’ve a harder heart than me,

when it comes to animals it seems so…

… but I generally don’t let my heart tell me every LL “sure as h*ll isn’t going to play fair”

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I know how you feel.
We have been trying for over 2 years now and am registered with every estate agent in the Lincolnshire area. We apply daily fill in all the preliminary applications then never hear back, we contact them to be told properties are gone or we can’t afford it lol. I wish I could give you better advice other then keep trying and try not to let it get you down, I know it’s hard I feel I have let my family down trying to get them a better life. Fingers crossed and good luck.

you are not letting your family down. All the recent goverments have let you down . Allowing local councils to sell off thousands of council houses, STILL allowing social houseing providers to sell them off. ! Mad . Then pushing the blame on to private landlords Many of us selling up . It will get worse

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To be honest I have just about given up! As you say you jump through hoops to only be stonewalled! We’ve not let anyone down we do our best. Whats letting us down are the systems Private & public!!! I wish you & yours much luck, stay safe.