Pro's and Con's of HB/DSS tenants?

[duomaxwell]

After my own experience with DSS, my preference is not to take them again. Even if you are lucky to have a decent tenant - the amount of times the HB department stop and restart payments whilst awaiting documentation or if the tenant goes on a course, or the slightest change in circumstances etc causes absolute havoc with cash-flow.

There were times my tenant was 3 1/2 months in rent arrears, and then all of a sudden you'd get a big check, followed by a month of rent paid on time, only for HB to be suspended yet again and arrears build up. Its a LOT of hassle dealing with HB tenants.

I somewhat agree, I have been on and off benefits for years and my current landlord got the payments got paid to him as officially I was 8 weeks in arrears, in reality it was just someone had wrongfully told them I was still in education so they wanted proof them messed me around getting the claim reopened and I was literally 1 month behind but as rent is due in advance it showed as 2 months.

Being a reasonable but not perfect rent paying tenant myself I find it hard enough as is to find a property as cant afford to pay 1 month in advance, moving costs etc without getting my deposit back, I am the sort of person who at most pays rent a few days early or late depending on when I get a chance to pay the rent, when I had a agency that was literally 2 minutes walk from house it was always early

Working tenants are only better in that respect that they are more likely to have savings but that doesn't mean they will, an ex landlord of mine had a working tenant owe about 5 months rent then found out the person owned their own home in London but claimed they were poor! or many places I have shared the working tenants were the ones that paid late as they partied and didn't have enough for rent, or didn't find it worthwhile.

Essentially bad tenants are bad tenants, its just benefit claimants are lowest someone can go therefore thats where many of the bad ones are if working tenants were much better than this site wouldnt exist!

[Claymore]

My gripe with HB isn't so much the tenants, but the system which supports the payments. It's one massive headache.

And yes I agree that bad tenants are bad tenants and they can be HB or working.

[rugbyroom]

As a Landlord on LHA myself, I have a sympathy with other LHA tenants, but the problem is simple.

If they don't pay, then you won't get your money back as the system in place enables people with no morales to simply lie to bailiffs about who they are.

Court orders for money are a waste of time as the tenants generally wont have any assets or full time work.

My local LHA continued to pay LHA to tenant who finially left 27 weeks in arrears, they kept paying after receiving 6 different letters pleading them to stop paying a tenant with drug / gambling issues.

I will no longer touch any LHA tenants, I feel that only 1 in 5 are honest and in the situation whereby they require help, 3 in 5 are OK, but the system lets them down, or they get to know that you can take LHA and spend on anything you want, and the Landlord generally wont even bother to make a claim.

The final 1, which is the worse, have already made thousands from going from Landlord to Landlord getting the LHA and using it for there own needs, then once LHA is suspended, they simply leave a pile of crap in your property and move to the next Landlord, leaving you to decide do you start legal proceedings etc on a ghost in your room, which means months without a rental income or risk illegal eviction.

I know this is a long rant, but I have had too many LHA tenants who set out to abuse the system and a council who feel that its perfectly right to keep paying tenants who have problems and don't pay their rent.

AVOID I PERSONALLY AND MANY OTHER LANDLORDS WHERE I RENT, WOULD RATHER LEAVE ROOMS EMPTY THEN RENT TO LHA TENANTS