How does it work - housing benefit.
 

I'm doing some house hunting for brother who is due to return to UK soon with his family. On alot of adds I see the stipulation "no DSS" - I take it this means the private landlord will not accept payment from housing benefit.
My brother will be living on savings when he first gets back, as he has not been habitually resident for many years and if I'm correct has to be in the country at least 6 mos before he can claim anything. He has intentions to start a small business, and is very much against the idea of being on any kind of benefits as a matter of principle, though I think for some time he might have to claim housing benefit, until his business gets well and truly off the ground. My question is, if you are house hunting and intend to pay privately,and originally do so, but end up getting housing benefit, do you have to move? does it matter to the landlord as long as his rent is being paid? (my brother will also have a guarrantor) Are many agents/landlords open to negotiating this stipulation? The reason being I'm looking to try to keep them in a reasonable area, and most affordable housing that would accept housing benefit are in an area thats best avoided.

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

The 6 month thing isn't true. If you look at the HRT threads here you will see that some staff are still trying to use it...or three months. But it's wrong. Each case is individual.

If he has returned to live in the UK, lived on savings and is then trading again before claiming HB then he will already have established a routine and is likely to be treated as ordinarily resident anyway....after all, he will already be housed and has established employment.

If he becomes a tenant and then claims Housing Benefit later, the landlord need never know. In fact a landlord need never know anyway unless there are practical difficulties and the potential tenant says HB is involved.

HB claims are processed without reference to the landlord. Proof of rent is needed but then there should be a lease for that anyway.

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

Thanks Bristol for your response and advice, broadens the house-hunting field. Thanks especially for directing me to the HR thread. Very interesting to find out it's judged on a case by case basis. When I first came back to UK I was told I could not be considered HR until I'd been back 6 mos. I'd applied for CB. I took their word as law, thankfully it didn't bother us too much as I had the kind support of friends and hubby began working almost right away.

I've a friend in her 50's - a born and bred Brit living in London. A few years ago she spent 2 years in India doing volunteer work. Since then her health broke down, she's had 3 operations, and she's now trying to claim some kind of benefit until she can find work that she can do from home. She's been told because of the 2 years in India (10 years ago!) - she is not HR, so therefore cannot claim benefits.

Suffice it to say we were all rather baffled when we heard this - seems like any time outside of UK can be used against you, no matter if it was years ago. In the meantime I actually know of others - a couple where the guy is half Italian half brazilian, married to a brazillian, come in on his italian passport and immediately start claiming CB for their children - seems they passed the HR test with flying colours. While I've nothing against the brazillian couple getting CB, since they have set up their own business, seems a bit barmy that they pass HR and Brit friend doesn't.
Anyways brit friend is taking it to court, and lawyer is confident she'll win.

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

But landlords generally ask for a credit check and employment history, so spotting someone claiming benefit is not hard. Although not all landlords do this.

The reason for saying "no DSS" is generally as DSS pay the bond and the rent, therefore the tenants have no real driver to not damage the house. I have heard many horror stories of tenants smashing a house to pieces because they want a fire (no money for elec etc). No bond means they will not lose out when they depart the property.

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

Brother has no debts and has been employed abroad - so I see no problems there. He has no plans to claim HB - just worried about 'what if' he has to, if his savings run out before he finds work/business gets off the ground - does that mean he'd have to move house to have everything 'kosher' with his landlord.

Horror stories sound...horrible - no wonder landlords are cautious.

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

This is the right answer :)

I moved into a flat in the Lake District and because I had no employment history they wanted 6 months rent up front or somebody to stand as guarantor which my brother in law did. So I just paid my rent as normal every month.

Towards the end of my tenancy agreement my seasonal job finished. I did apply for Job Seekers Allowance, Housing Benefit and some sort of Council Tax rebate but the way it worked out with all the paperwork etc, and me having another job lined up, I just got 2 weeks JSA. However I could have gotten the other benefits if I had wanted but didn't seem worth the hassle for just a few weeks. Anyways as BristolUK says, the landlord need never know.

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

Landlords can ask all sorts of questions - some legal, some not. They may or may not turn away someone who says they are self employed and have no employment record or that they have just come from abroad.

They may be quite happy that they don't have to muck around with delays and deposit bond schemes if a tenant comes up with the deposit and advance rent.

And once you are a tenant and then go onto Housing Benefit as in the original post, that would be no legal reason to be evicted in the event the landlord discovered that. :)

But then not all landlords (and tenants) operate within the law at all times either. :(

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

There must be more to this....someone must have the wrong idea about something (misread a date?) or some other information.

The HR 'test' is intended for more recent arrivals. If some are still insisting on a six month 'qualification' it stands to reason that someone remaining in the UK for ten years would qualify. :confused: HRT wouldn't even come up.

Maybe there were several periods abroad (in different countries?) since but not considered so significant by your friend because they were not as long as the two years in India but the office is looking at all periods away?

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

I went through an estate agent who had strict written rules and regs. Don't know if that makes a difference though?
p.s. What's HRT?

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

Shandyclover

Respect on your bro, where he wants to use what savings he has, instead of trying to get it from the local council...

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

Habitual Residence Test.

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

You can no longer claim housing benefit if renting privatly unless you were already claiming it. Housing Benefit is only for those in renting public housing (almost impossible to get, waiting lists years long) or those already claiming it before LHA came into force.

For private tennants there is now Local Housing Allowance lha-direct.voa.gov.uk Whereby rents are set by your circumstances and the size f the property, no more 'fair rent assesor'.


For instance someone under 25 is only allowed the shared room rate, which in Liverpool is £55, if the rent is anymore you pay the rest yourself. Local Authority Search

Bedroom Calculator

Oh and you should tell your landlord you are claiming LHA. It could invalidate their morgatge or insurance and ulitmately your tennancy, by having a tennant reliant on benefits. Besides many councils will only pay direct to the landlord so they have to be informed.

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

Well, yes, but most people know what is meant by Housing Benefit and many advice resources still use the expression. Sometimes one can get too bogged down in detail when general information is all that's required. :)

I doubt very much that insurance policies of building owners are concerned with the incomes and source of income of any tenants they may have. I suspect that might be against privacy and rights laws.

Councils only paying direct to landlords? Absolutely not when I left the UK in 2004. I doubt it's changed since then.

Councils running deposit bond schemes do make such payments but that's a tiny minority of private housing.

Of course landlords might want a tenant to agree to a direct payment and the tenant might agree to that but it was not normal policy.

If it has changed since I left, perhaps someone could provide a link or two. I do like to keep up to date on these issues.

Edited to add......
I made my own check on the link supplied.

The site also says

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

I have'nt got a link but i can tell you i am a landlord in the uk and the payment of rent can work both ways...

The rent check can be made direct to the Landlord or the tennant..

most landlords like the rent payment sent direct to them and of course most tennants like it made to them also..
But the Landlord wins mostly on this matter, that's if the tennant want to live in such a dwelling...

i rent to a single parent and i get payed direct from the council also they also payed her bond at the start of the contract..

When Landlords say No DSS...there being very picky IMHO as this payment from the council is like clockwork every month without fail..
yep there is some scum bags out there who is on the dss and gave good people a bad name over the yrs...
so yep Landlords is a bit iffy over this also a lot of dodgy landlords who don't mention such gains on there income tax, as with the cash in hand every month they would like rather than dealing with paper trails checks from councils..

There is not a lot of council houseing left now, and if there is, its going to be very poor area, indeed, where not even the locals will go there...
Most rentals are now private and being on such a council waiting list will be a very long weight indeeed, and even more so if he/she goes into a private letting..(points system)
But saying all that not every council runs the same policey's so best bet to do a search on the area your looking into...

So i can see on both sides of this debate...

Re: How does it work - housing benefit.
 

Yes...that's what I said. :)

One thing you haven't mentioned about the down side of direct payments - from a landlord's perspective - is having to repay the money when a tenant loses the entitlement and an overpayment has occured.

There are a variety of situations where a tenant loses entitlement to benefits and the landlord doesn't know anything until there's a letter asking to return several weeks worth of rent payments. The landlord is then down on the deal.

Where the tenant has received the rent payments and passed them on and then has to repay overpaid benefits the tenant is then liable for repayment and not the landlord.


From a random local authority site about Housing Benefit.