Lesley1020

Re the visa saga, I talked to the airline and basically for a penalty I can change my flight up to 24 hours before departure, therefore the last time I can change it is 9.30am on Tuesday. If it doesn't come by tomorrow evening, and the waste of time online tracking system at VDS says its still in the embassy then it would seem the best thing to do - tho I am sure sods law will mean that it will turn up on Tuesday. Course, after Tuesday I will no longer be at this address and am trying to find somewhere for me the 2 cats and all the luggage to go (just in case). Having to take a huge risk with the tenant - she is on housing benefit and the DSS haven't processed anything yet and I have no proof or guarantee that the rent is going to be paid. Only other option is to leave the house empty and have friends look for a new tenant - but everyone is busy with their own lives and don't really have the time to commit to that - so, it looks like I am going to have to leave it all to a wish and a prayer!

Problem is, the cats go to the vet tomorrow for their certificates which KLM have told me must be within 48 hours of travel - if I change my flight availability is seriously limited for the rest of the week and I just don't know what day to go with - not to mention the fact that the certificates will be invalid, but of course it could come tomorrow and then I will need the cert and my vet doesnt have any appointments on Tuesday. I have tried without success to get through to VDS since Friday but they are constantly busy- figured maybe if the online thing isn't up to date maybe they can shed some more light but no luck there.

Just need some divine intervention now - if there is such a thing!

excpomea

Am I reading this right? You have booked flights ect and do not yet have your visas?

That and your considering letting a DHS tenanat use your house without the DHS having fully ok'd it all?
I would rather leave the house empty and let a letting agent handle it all.

Sorry I think you would be crazy to do that. Why not sell? But then, you should have sold before moving. My friends here in Tallahassee left the UK prior to selling their house and now their in a right mess.

All the same good luck, sounds like your going to need it.

doctor scrumpy

Just for the record, any rent due would be housing benefit paid by the local council. The DSS do not pay any rent at all. Chances are the rent would have to be assessed as to what the council thought was a fair rent for the property, ie what they are willing to pay.

For the record, Lesley sounds like she is a wind up merchant.

Lesley1020

Sorry I should have phrased better - she is already in receipt of housing benefit for the place she has given notice on - the rent assessor didn't come out they based it on a similar property in my area and I have seen a copy of the letter. What I was meaning is, they haven't processed her individual application for this house yet - although as she is already on it she thinks it is just a simple matter of transferring it as this house is actually lower rent anyway - I'm not not comfortable with not seeing it in writing before I leave - which is why I am going to go in there on Tuesday and talk to them.

Excpomea - I'm not selling my house as I am only on an 18 month visa and its an investment over here, and as I've explained before if I don't get a flight out this week I seriously piss off my employers and miss the beginning of training and possibly will lose the job - it's as simple as that - I took a gamble and it didn't pay off. I don't think I'm the first and I doubt I will be the last. I was at the Embassy on 8th April I didn't think I was risking too much going by the timeframe I was told that day.

Frankly at this stage I really dont give a shit what happens now but believe me I've learned from my own mistake on this one.

kazzuk

I had a DSS tenant in one of my properties in the UK. Make sure you get her to sign a letter to say they can pay you direct. I did not - at first and she racked up a couple of thousand rent arrears. Finally got them to pay me direct and she paid me £10 extra a week off the arrears. When I finally decided to move to the US. I had to pay all of her moving expenses to get her to leave so that I could sell the house, of course she promised to pay me back!!!!!!!!!! Still waiting.

I would never ever rent to a DSS tenant again.

I hope your visa arrives tomorrow, you must be really stressed out at the moment.

If I were you, if the visa does not arrive tomorrow. I would call your employer and tell them about the delay, but stay positive. Once they have given you a bit more time, you can then plan eveything else out.

Hope it all works out for you.

snorkmaiden

Lesley - seriously, I wouldn't do it if I were you.

We rented out our house in Scotland to a woman who sounded just like your prospective tenant. She turned out to be a serial squatter and it took us a whole year to get her out of our house in which time she totally destroyed it. The only way previous landlords got rid of her was by giving her a reference - she blackmailed them - it was ridiculous.

Housing benefit can take an age to come through - you have no guarantee she will get enough money to pay the entire rent even if she is on the level.

Sign on with an agent - I'll bet you could line up several to come out to you on monday and take you on. It will take a percentage off you but it will also give you some real peace of mind. We did have an agent but our cow of a squatter had done it so many times she knew exactly how to fool them.

If I were you I'd get an agent in, if you leave the keys with a friend you can arrange for them to pick up the keys, view the property and fix a rental price even if you are not there. Get yourself insured as well so you are covered for your mortgage payments if the tennant doesn't pay or moves out and you are without rent for a few months. The agent will also take care of any repairs etc that need doing while you are away.

I know the majority of rentals go off smoothly but believe me, it's just not worth the risk of taking a chance - we lost all of our savings getting the woman out of our house and repairing the damage she had done not to mention the mortgage we had to cover for the year she was there.

honeymommy

Just my twopence worth.... Thought about not posting this but wouldn't want anyone to go through the same as us.

We rented to a woman and her small son on leaving UK. She was allready approved for housing benefit and had been living somewhere else on that benefit. ( got a great reference from her landlord)

Well to cut a long story short...

They wrecked the house.

Didn't pay the extra she was supposed to to cover the excess.

The benefits office allways payed late and actually missed a few payments.

Her son kept breaking windows and she would claim they just broke, so the rental agent charged us for them to be fixed. She was burgled and try to say we should pay for the stuff on our insurance...

There were so many things.....

Basically it took 18 months for the house to be so wrecked it would have cost thousands to fix it. The non payment of rent caused the mortgage company to threaten reposession....

We had tried to get her evicted but it is a long process in UK.

We were so far in debt over all she had done that we had to let them reposess in the end.....

Renting to her with housing benefit seemed a good move... Turned out to be a bloody nightmare.

Oh and references from landlords.... I would have written her a great reference to get rid of her. ( Found out later thats what the last one did.)

Be very careful....

If I ever did it again I would NEVER rent to someone on benefit...

Taffyles

I can add to the horror story- we had no luck with tenants and I left the house in the hands of an agent. The first tenants I vetted myself and they were great for a while (3 prison officers sharing the rent) until one of them left and the other two couldn't pay, but they did move out of their own accord quite quickly and didn't do any damage- it was a downhill path from then on until finally I agreed to let a DSS in there on advice from the agents. They sorted the paperwork and the (reduced) rent was paid on time- but she had a nervous breakdown and set fire to the place trying to commit suicide and take her kids with her- horrible. She got done for Arson, my insurance paid for damage (although I lost all the contents). Thank God our mortgage was low and we could pay it- otherwise the arrears would have forced us to sell. I wasn't going to let the house again after that, just keep it as an investment but a family member was moving into the area and we let to them (just enough rent to cover the mortgage and insurance etc)- this turned out really great. And we sold our house recently at a massive profit.
In our circumstances- we bought the house in the S.East in a very depressed market and only had a £25,000 mortgage on it, we knew that house prices would take off eventually. So it was worth hanging on to our house at all costs. Not to mention the security it gave us while we were waiting years for our greencards.

Letting your house is a risk anyway, but you are really upping the stakes if you let to a DSS...if you can get out of it, do it! Leave it in the hands of a good agent- they charge very little. If you can't get out of it, well just hope for the best, you may be lucky.

Taffyles

I can only add to the horror story, I'm afraid- we let our house and had no luck with tenants and I left the house in the hands of an agent. The first tenants I vetted myself and they were great for a while (3 prison officers sharing the rent) until one of them left and the other two couldn't pay, but they did move out of their own accord quite quickly and didn't do any damage- it was a downhill path from then on until finally I agreed to let a DSS in there on advice from the agents. They sorted the paperwork and the (reduced) rent was paid on time- but she had a nervous breakdown and set fire to the place trying to commit suicide and take her kids with her- horrible. She got done for Arson, my insurance paid for damage (although I lost all the contents). Thank God our mortgage was low and we could pay it- otherwise the arrears would have forced us to sell. I wasn't going to let the house again after that, just keep it as an investment but a family member was moving into the area and we let to them (just enough rent to cover the mortgage and insurance etc)- this turned out really great. And, after12 years, we sold our house recently at a massive profit.

In our circumstances- we bought the house in the S.East in a very depressed market with a big deposit and only had a £25,000 mortgage on it, we knew that house prices would take off eventually. So it was worth hanging on to our house at all costs. Not to mention the security it gave us while we were waiting years for our greencards. Despite the problems. the best thing we ever did was keep our house.

Letting your house is a risk anyway, but you are really upping the stakes if you let to a DSS...if you can get out of it, do it! Leave it in the hands of a good agent- they charge very little- and wait for private tenants. If you can't get out of it, well just hope for the best, you may be lucky, I know one couple who let to DSS and have had no problems.

Taffyles

I can only add to the horror story, I'm afraid- we let our house and had no luck with tenants and I left the house in the hands of an agent. The first tenants I vetted myself and they were great for a while (3 prison officers sharing the rent) until one of them left and the other two couldn't pay, but they did move out of their own accord quite quickly and didn't do any damage- it was a downhill path from then on until finally I agreed to let a DSS in there on advice from the agents. They sorted the paperwork and the (reduced) rent was paid on time- but she had a nervous breakdown and set fire to the place trying to commit suicide and take her kids with her- horrible. She got done for Arson, my insurance paid for damage (although I lost all the contents). Thank God our mortgage was low and we could pay it- otherwise the arrears would have forced us to sell. I wasn't going to let the house again after that, just keep it as an investment but a family member was moving into the area and we let to them (just enough rent to cover the mortgage and insurance etc)- this turned out really great. And, after12 years, we sold our house recently at a massive profit.

In our circumstances- we bought the house in the S.East in a very depressed market with a big deposit and only had a £25,000 mortgage on it, we knew that house prices would take off eventually. So it was worth hanging on to our house at all costs. Not to mention the security it gave us while we were waiting years for our greencards. Despite the problems. the best thing we ever did was keep our house.

Letting your house is a risk anyway, but you are really upping the stakes if you let to a DSS...if you can get out of it, do it! Leave it in the hands of a good agent- they charge very little- and wait for private tenants. If you can't get out of it, well just hope for the best, you may be lucky, I know one couple who let to DSS and have had no problems.

Lesley1020

Well this has all certainly got me thinking and I did a bit of digging today via a neighbour who knows of her - turns out that she is actually 4 months pregnant, she didn't mention that either and its only a 2 bedroom house and she's already moving in with her 15 and 11 year old sons. I did try agents already and they told me that mostly these days tenants are DSS and the "professionals" are looking for places in more affluent areas etc... also they wanted to take 20% of the monthly rent (that was the best quote I had) and were pushing me to accept DSS anyway - I placed ads and the first 2 tenants fell through and then I found her and actually thought it would be okay initially since my neighbours know her and she is working (casually, of course ) in the supermarket 2 mins from the house.

I had a long chat today with them and they feel that she isn't the type that would give me a lot of bother and have promised to keep an eye on her, and also with regard to the extra she has to pay over and above the benefit, they are willing to collect this from her on the 28th of every month and pay it into my account - and I trust them implicitly I have known them for a long time and we are good friends, they also want me to make it clear to her that they will be keeping an eye on the house and will have a key to the house so that six monthly inspections can be done (that is in the lease). I spoke to her today and she is going into the Housing Office tomorrow with a letter saying that I want the benefits paid directly into my bank account, she has given me her national insurance number so that I can call them or go in first thing Tuesday morning and talk to them to confirm that she is already eligible for housing benefit etc etc.

Obviously I have no time left now to find someone else, and I really don't want to sell - the fact is I could be coming back to this house in 18 mos and it is an investment - especially with the way house prices are going and its already worth a fair bit more than my mortgage. Although I'm not saying I agree with what she's doing (i.e. screwing the system, in working on the side etc) - as my neighbour pointed out - to a certain extent it will be a trump card I hold over her - he said if there are any problems with rent, getting her out etc - all I need to do is tell her I will call the DSS Fraud line etc. Of course that is all hypothetical and if I had known what I know now I would never in a million years have considered renting to her but at this stage I don't see any other way - although if I don't get a satisfactory response from the Housing Benefit Office on Tuesday then I will definitely have no choice but to leave it in the hands of one of the letting agents.

I guess renting to anyone is a risk - I have absolutely no experience in any of this and it has certainly been a huge learning experience - having rented properties in the past myself I suppose I just naively thought that other people would in the main treat people's properties with the same respect I did.

All I can really do now is hope for the best - my best friend came over today also to talk it all out with us because I was bawling my eyes out and seriously thinking of just packing the whole thing in and staying here and trying to find a new job - but it's taken so long and so much hard work to get this far I don't want to give up at the last gasp.

Thanks for all the input everyone, I only wish I had asked about this a few weeks ago when I was first finding out about renting to DSS etc.

helenw

Ok I know not your tennant, And I am sad to see so many bad stories of people who rent out etc. BUT!! Some of us are good! I get housing benifit. It doesn't cover the rent, but I top it up. I am a single parent with 3 small kids who are taught to respect the house! I have decorated and keep the garden good. So... just because someone gets housing benifit doesn't make them a hooligan!

Taffyles

True enough Helen. My best friend recently got divorced and had to get housing benefit temporarily- she rented a place for six months and was terrified of messing it up- she said she'd never cleaned so much in her life!

Sounds like you have great neighbours too Lesley- and excellent that they are prepared to keep an eye on the place and actively help. This will surely make a difference...especially the 6 month inspections!! Good luck and hang in there girl.

Englishmum

We had our house trashed by a squaddie (and his family) from Ulster who had just left the Army. They stopped paying the rent and the letting agency which we use to collect the rent were taking steps to have a possession order taken out, when a neighbour caught them doing a moonlight flit - with our furniture!

We had stated 'no pets' in the lease, but they acquired a cat....and apparently it had left it's fleas behind when they vacated the house; we had to get the house fumigated. They have left plates of their half-finished dinner on the kitchen table. The house had to be totally redecorated.

On the other hand, we have been very lucky with our other tenants over the years and rather than lose a good tenant I think we're getting a little less in rent than the market rate - but our mortgage is covered so we don't mind. We know so many expats who have had problems with tenants; one family we knew had their wooden/parquet floor at their lovely home in Surrey wrecked when the tenant chopped firewood on it!

To be honest, it is a huge responsibility for your friends to keep an eye on your tenant and property for you month after month after month. Will they be able to help you with completing the appropriate forms for your UK tax affairs as you will need to declare your rental income to the Inland Revenue? ( they will know this as the tenant is in receipt of HB). You may be loath to pay a fee to a letting agency (who can advise with your tax notifications) but you can take this off your UK tax liability as well as 'wear and tear'. (Also for IRS as well). You can also get a tax concession from the IRS for moving to your new job overseas.

Here are some interesting websites:

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/verify.htm

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ho...ory=50992.html

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ho...ory=51018.html
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Lesley1020

Thanks for that info - I have already contacted the Inland Revenue and got permission from my mortgage lender - I filled out and returned all the tax forms as soon as I got my P45 and sent them off, and they have my new address etc - so at least that side of things I have taken care of - they know exactly how much rental income is etc and I do believe from what Centre One told me I can also access tax returns online - there is also some sort of certificate of exemption I had to fill out that they sent me.

I feel its a lot for my neighbours too - but the lady is one of my closest friends and she is insisting on helping in this way and feels its in their interests too to keep an eye on things, so I'll give it a try.

Although I did have a big scare this morning - tenant called me at 9am to say she was going shopping for wallpaper borders and is it okay if she puts up a flowery one - lol. She also said she had talked to her family and she is going to give me the deposit and the pro rata of this month's rent in cash tomorrow night - I think she seems to be trying her best to reassure me now!

Also managed to get through to VDS this morning and they confirmed passport etc is still in Consular Dept and of course it may or may not come out today so I'll keep checking up to say 3pm and if the status is still the same, I will change my flight.