UK Landlord Forum / Life

Am currently looking for a tennant for a 2 bed modern semi 'up north'. The latest applicant is a single mother with a young child on Housing Benefit. The LA has recounted what is on the face of it a sad tale....they currently live in a house which suffers badly from damp and which has now started to affect her childs health. As such she naturally wants to move to a better property. The thing is she can't afford the deposit and has suggested she could pay a little every month until it's paid. I don't know what 'a little' means.

Whilst I'd love to be able to help someone out sho is in a predicament, it does worry me. I don't know nearly enough about LHA, Housing Benefit, DSS etc... and how it all works together. Logically though if she can't afford the deposit and is on benefits how will she ever be to top up her monthly rent bill to eventually have a deposit? And if I don't have a deposit, I feel very, very exposed.

I feel like I have to say 'no thank you' to the tenant, however, what are your views?

I'M PRETTY SURE THE COUNCIL PAY THE DEPOSIT WHEN SOMEONE ON BENEFITS HAS NOT GOT THE CASH, I'D LOOK INTO IT AND ASK THE HOUSING DEPT.

That sounds too good to be true....& being sceptical I'm having a hard time believing it! I will dig around though and see what I can come up with.

Does anyone have any experience of this being the case in practice?

Thanks

My experience is that you think, well they are not going to screw me over when I have done this to help them out. Ha Ha Ha.
Oh yes they will. I have a heart bigger than my head so this has happened to me 3 out of 4 times. Admittedly the good one is the best tenant I have but she is a real rarity.
I bet you she cant afford the deposit but finds the money to get cable and buy fags.
I always refuse permission for alterations until they are settled. People are dumb and will spend their money on a new lino and not be able to pay their first gas bill and subsequently default on rent. Im nanny to them but it works out for best

we too are very kind helpful landlords - but we have been bitten so many times now that we have decided to take a hard stance.  afteral we are not a charity.  we have let people off with deposits and even rent etc to help them out of their difficulties - only to find they are dealing in drugs, buying 50 inch tv's etc etc.  no more.  they know how to manipulate you and you must be hard nosed.  we are in business arent we?

in our experience - the council may do a bond in which case they will want to inspect the property etc etc - they may also let the tenant have the deposit but this is only a loan and will be paid back out of the rent allowance.  this happened to us and the whole thing was a joke.

if it was us - we wouldnt touch this tenant with a barge pole.

all the best

My gut instinct would be to turn this one down unless the local authority/housing benefit are going to come up with the deposit up front.

Remember that you are legally required to have the deposit protected with one of the government approved schemes within 30 days of the start of the tenancy.  How are you going to do that if she wants to pay it in dribs and drabs (assuming she pays it at all, that is)?  You could be far too exposed to a whole can of worms there because the penalties for not protecting it in time (or at all) are pretty severe.   

Years of experience do teach you not to be too trusting, I'm afraid. 

Hi RFK,

You've got good advice from people here.  Just want to pick up on one point from Topseyt.  You have to secure the deposit within 30 days of receipt, not start of the tenancy (although the two are the same 99% of the time).

If you're willing to take it in dribs and drabs, you can secure it in dribs and drabs, too.  But you must be on top of your admin and each deposit requires all the paperwork to be issued.

So don't use procedural issues over protecting the deposit to say yes or no.  You just need to balance off your (admireable) desire to help someone against your need to protect yourself.  Please let us know what you decide and how it goes.

The result here was we didn't take the tenant in question. Upon further research there appears to be a variety of Rent Guarantee Schemes around the country all of which have their particular nuances. For one the deposit was paid over 6 months with the council deducting it from allowances, and another is was available as a guarantee from the council for 6 months only with all claims needing to be made against the council. None of this helped our confidence though.

We've taken another tennant instead who whilst also on benefits, appears a better prospect. They can actually pay the deposit, and want to be in the immediate vicinity due to schools where their 2 young children currently go. It's our first benefits tenant so fingers crossed.

Thanks for all the advice...really useful to have constructive input.