davidgreen6 Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 I have been letting out my own properties now for 16 years. During that time I have had a mixture of tenants, both working and claiming housing benefit. In the last few years however the balance of prospective tenants has weighted more to those claiming housing benefit. In general these tenants have been perfectly satisfactory with the majority of the rent payments being paid direct by the council, however last month I had two non payments and when I enquired I was advised that the tenants had notified the council of a change of address. Neither had bothered to notify the landlord. In one case I knew full well that the notification was false as I had been working at the property and witnessed that he had been living there although when I confronted him he actually moved out that day, entirely on his own volition. In the other case it transpired that the tenant had notified the council of the change of address some three weeks earlier and that she had moved out 29 days prior to the notification to the council (7 weeks before the landlord knew that the house was apparently empty raising the prospect of the council claiming back allegedly overpaid benefit). Housing benefit rules allow a tenant 28 days to notify a change of address! As will be obvious here the tenant has not returned the keys presenting a further complication involving the laws on abandonment. My purpose in raising this matter in the forum is to share this experience with others who may have similar experiences and how it was dealt with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 I deal with it by not letting to HB tenants. Never have, never will.......although I did have one tenant who claimed HB for a short while......now he's back at work. Not taking HB tenants doesn't guarantee to fix the problem you describe but it sure as hell significantly reduces the risk......and risk is the business we are in. The fact that we are letting property is really a side issue as, our main job is to minimise our risk of things going wrong. All tenants are scum but some HB tenants just happen to be worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted November 4, 2011 Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 I deal with it by not letting to HB tenants. Never have, never will.......although I did have one tenant who claimed HB for a short while......now he's back at work. Not taking HB tenants doesn't guarantee to fix the problem you describe but it sure as hell significantly reduces the risk......and risk is the business we are in. The fact that we are letting property is really a side issue as, our main job is to minimise our risk of things going wrong. All tenants are scum but some HB tenants just happen to be worse. Me neither! I have been a landlording it now for 20 years now and have never let to DSS and after the many years on this forum and other forums of reading the tales of woe from landlords up and down the Country nothing but nothing has convinced me that I am missing out on anything and the need for me to a change of direction. I sometimes think or even know that half the problem lies with the local councils or at least my dealings with councils has has never been a good experience. If it's not the council then it's the current Government legislation that is at fault especially when the the last Labour government decided to pay tenants directly.....madness which by and large has proved to be correct. Mel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antnkel Posted November 4, 2011 Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 Well I might be just about to take a three story building on with two flats already rented out to dhss. I always thought I wouldn't let to dhss but this deal does seem to good to let go with a rental yield of about 20%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 Gross yields mean nothing. Net yields make more sense but even they are not the complete answer. A 20% gross yield will mean mean considerably less with HB tenants providing you with serious problems. Don't JUST look at the headline rate.....there are far more considerations to be taken into account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antnkel Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 I can see where your coming from but the 20% is without the ground floor shop being rented out. Thought that would cover the day to day maintanance costs as a worst case scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 Even worse......I wouldn't want to be renting out a shop in the current economic crisis. Good luck....you may need it and more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antnkel Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 Well we'll just have to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 Don't rent it to any foreigner's!......topic from a couple of weeks ago whereby they did a moonlight flit on the landlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 Don't rent it to any foreigner's!......topic from a couple of weeks ago whereby they did a moonlight flit on the landlord. Oh dear, here we go again. * Sample of One. * Hearsay. * One bad foreigner = all foreigners. I've spent 10 years letting to overseas visitors and my experience of perhaps 60+ overseas tenants is that they are no worse than anyone else. I'm sure there are landlords with little or no experience who can rubbish any racial, religeous, sectarian, geographical or social group. Personal feeling are just that......personal. I happen to think all tenants are scum but thats my personal feeling and not one I expect anyone else to agree with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 Oh dear, here we go again. * Sample of One. * Hearsay. * One bad foreigner = all foreigners. I've spent 10 years letting to overseas visitors and my experience of perhaps 60+ overseas tenants is that they are no worse than anyone else. I'm sure there are landlords with little or no experience who can rubbish any racial, religeous, sectarian, geographical or social group. Personal feeling are just that......personal. I happen to think all tenants are scum but thats my personal feeling and not one I expect anyone else to agree with. It was a shop/retail letting Richlist to which I referred to in my reply to Antnkel and not domestic accomodation and it was Russians .....and if you, as you keep reminding us all, consider that ALL your tenants are Scum then that has to include your foreign tenants as well.... surely? I happen to like my current tenants so I certainly don't consider them as Scum. Mel. OP Tony 4444 Posted 06 October 2011 - 03:28 PM Quote. I moved a nice russian couple into a flat and they also took the shop i had underneath a few days later (flat on ast and seperate lease on shop). Documents were downloaded from lawpack. After 1 month they decided that their new business was actually a pants idea and asked me if id consider finding new tenants for it. I agreed that they would only be liable for rent for it until new tenant found as well as the agents let fee of £250, but they said they could not afford to pay any more rent for the shop as they were skint. A few weeks later they ran into arrears for the flat and couldnt tell me when they could pay the rent (they had made two months payments), i left it for two weeks to give them a bit of space but then one morning i found the keys posted through my door with a note stating they couldnt afford to pay the rent so are handing the keys back. I know i have to send them an abandonment notice but are they liable for rent up until possession or the tenancy on the flat which still had 3 months to run. Also can i charge them (or reasonably expect) to pay for re-letting the property as well. Please advise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rising Damp Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Really annoying when tenants leg it but don't waste your energy trying to go after them. Are you going to get the money from them? Despite all they have done I can guarantee they have not forgotten to change the utilities and council tax back in to your name!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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