natshearmon@yahoo.co.uk Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Hi, I would like to hear from other forum members on this. My current tenants are moving out and Im seriously considering getting a tenant from the council on the local housing allowance and managing the property myself. As far as I can see the agents charge for everything possible and seem unable to find me a longterm tenant, so charges are repeated every 6 months. Can anyone give me any pointers for going down this road. Obviously financially it will be a lot better as current agents charge 12.5% and I only live round corner from B2L house, so managing it would not be taxing. I have just paid for my EPC, and apparently can get the current rent on the LHA? Any thoughts, good or bad would be much appreciated. Many thanks Nat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesrap Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Hi, I would like to hear from other forum members on this. My current tenants are moving out and Im seriously considering getting a tenant from the council on the local housing allowance and managing the property myself. As far as I can see the agents charge for everything possible and seem unable to find me a longterm tenant, so charges are repeated every 6 months. Can anyone give me any pointers for going down this road. Obviously financially it will be a lot better as current agents charge 12.5% and I only live round corner from B2L house, so managing it would not be taxing. I have just paid for my EPC, and apparently can get the current rent on the LHA? Any thoughts, good or bad would be much appreciated. Many thanks Nat Just a few things you should consider before letting your property to a council. Councils are not always a quick way of getting somone in your house. On the LHA side what if there is delay in getting this benefit payed to your tennant. There may be complications you have not considerd. Remember you will be payed in arrears and not upfront. But you must be careful you dont turn down a tennant on the basis he has housing benefits or LHA. Do you really want this on your reputation as a good landlord? You might want to have a look at your tennancy agreement with the agent as there may be an unfair term in there. And bare in mind any standard terms may be considerd unfair if they were not negotiated before hand with the tennant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted August 15, 2008 Report Share Posted August 15, 2008 If you look further back into the last 2 weeks on this site there was quite a bit of opinion as to why not to let to the Council. Check out other letting agents in your area first - there is always one ready to do a deal and most tenants move on roughly every 18 months or more - it's a fact. You don't have to use an agent - learn the skills of how to do it yourself. It is all here on the net. Local authority tenants are the ones who can't get on the agency lists for various reasons and how will this sit with the neighbouring property owners to yours? Mortitia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 Hi redsaint, One of the best kept secrets of landlording is "A good housing benefit tenant is the best kind of tenant that a landlord will ever find". "The Council pay their rent and they will stay in your property, forever, thereby ensuring you never have a void period". The problem is how do you find a GOOD housing benefit tenant? All landlords are quick to tell you about the Housing Benefit tenants from hell who damaged their property and ran off owing thousands of pounds in unpaid rent but I can assure you that not EVERY DSS tenant is like that. Lots of people are turning to the Council now for help as they struggle to keep up very high mortgage payments and are getting repossessed. These are typically working tenants who have fallen on hard times due to the credit crunch. They have had to return their keys to the bank because they couldn't keep up with the relentless rise in mortgage payments. Not ALL of these people are bad. To try and find a good tenant, meet them personally, check their benefit entitlement (if any) with the Council, visit them (at their current address) to assess how they look after their current house, understand why they need to be rehoused (by you) and follow your "gut instinct". If their story / background looks OK / checks out - accept them - otherwise reject them. I rent out to lots of DSS tenant - and have done so for over 10 years - and I can honestly say that as long as you are CAREFUL - DSS tenants are great! I would warn you, though, that my views are in the minority - which is great - because the other landlords who discrimate against DSS tenants make it possible for me NEVER to have a void period in any of my properties. I currently manage ovder 100 DSS tenancies and the houses are never empty! Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 As an overview I actually agree with Mark on this !!!!!!!!(not often this happens) .... But you do leave yourself exposed to a whole pile of different problems which are not associated with private tenants ........with t who generally do not have the cash the get themselves out of trouble, in areas with inherent "problems", property, generally, which is not so "equitably" profitable and not so easy to offload ,along with a third party; LHA potentially able to,and do, cause a whole pile of completely unneccesary problems. Also time demands eg. accompanying T to LHA interviews ...etc you will not be having any of this with a private T But as Mark points out ...less likely to suffer voids .........Personally i have a good mix in my portfolio but very much prefer to put props on long lease with councils or Housing associations ....which does reduce rent even more but removes most of the "risk" and time/problem solving demands and really does Gaurantee RENT !! The Rodent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 Good heavens ..... Rodent and I in agreement again! I agree that taking DSS tenants do leave you exposed to a whole different set of tenancy management issues ..... and I would strongly recommend a zero tolerance approach to late / reduced rent payments. I, personally, serve a Section 21 notice on the day that the tenancy commences and tell all of my DSS tenants that the tenancy is only for 6 months and until they show me that they are looking after my property and always paying their rent on time (without me having to chase them) then the tenancy is only ever going to last 6 months. The bad DSS tenants are not offered a tenancy extension and are evicted at the end of the 6 month term. The good DSS tenants stay for life ! Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 A sensible and neccessary approach !!!!!!!! The Rodent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J4L Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 To digress a little here . . . . . . On the subject of LA charging for renewals, most do and I think this is appalling. I've said this before because there really is no need for it. OP point about "agents charging for everything possible and unable to find me a long term tenant" This happens, of course you can't tell when a Tenants circumstances are going to change and you have to be prepared for that. We have a 2 bed apartment locally that we've this weekend installed the 3rd Tenant in 9 months!! 1st tenant 'had' a dog (which was not disclosed on his application form) we found out and told him he'd have to go, 2nd Tenant, single mum, 1 child, gets pregnant and wants a 3 bed house. Now, all of these were DSS Tenants and there was (as you can imagine) a lot of work in shifting these people in and out and to other properties but the Landlord incurred NO extra cost and no void period. So that's 3 AST's, 3 Inventories, 3 check ins, and 2 check outs. Endless phone calls to HB and the local housing department for the homeless, lots of referencing, credit checks and the like. So the outcome of this all is that we have 3 happy tenants. I broke my back to assist all these Tenants into new places thus making them realise I work hard for them, they are 'unlikely' to repay me back by withholding rent or trashing these places. I never say never but the odds are with me I think. The Landlord who owns the apartment hasn't had to lift a finger or dig into her wallet for 'extra hidden' costs, so no fees for new contracts with the new tenants, no inventory costs and no tenant find fees. 2 points here, 1) If you treat/speak to the Tenants, that are claiming benefits, properly then there's more chance they'll stay and pay, and look after your property. Of course circumstances change so you're not always going to get that elusive 'long term' tenant falling into your lap. 2) There are agents out there who are quite happy to take their monthly %age and actually 'manage' your property without charging you the earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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