Why Can't People Manage On £500 Per Week?

[magsmay]

So - the Cap on Benefits will commence, along with a chorus of moaning minnies who say they can't possibly manage and will have to cut down on food and heating -so bloody what!!! If two working people had the misfortune of one of them losing their job they would have to cut down until things got better - your weekly cheque is a benefit For Funks Sake not a wage - Some WORKING couples barely clear £500 after off takes -this makes my blood boil -people these days are like spoilt children when they get their sweeties taken away - Quote from one moaning minnie this a.m. on TV '' I've tried to get work in the past but for me its not an option'' -then suck it up madam- if you want the State to provide for you then cut down and budget like the working families have to.

[Svejk]

Anyway Shar, if pater has a portfolio of London properties I can quite see why you oppose caps on rent subsidies.:)

[MadMen]

" just google any old estate agent you like, or look on a property portal like Zoopla or right move and click randomly on rental properties,"

Ok. Will do....

"most are 'No benefit claimants'"

No they're not.

You can't keep generalising. It doesn't back up what you're saying.

[LazyGun]

I have lost track of what points everyone is trying to make now, in part because much of the posts seem to be fuelled by a personal animus or others trying to show how clever they are at sniffing out what they think is a fake internet ID.

[Sharingan]

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/archive/index.php/t-20044.html

It's probably not what you're after Madmen but it does show to a limited degree that the problem exists as I specified. I don't have the time or inclination to further do research on the subject, it's such a well known problem a quick google will provide you with all the info you need on the subject, but I will point out that nearly all buy to let mortgages specify clearly that any prospective tenants have to be employed and cannot be benefit claimants ,therefore any property the landlord has a mortgage on will be unavailable to hb claimants.

[MadMen]

The point is, Housing benefit should be paid directly to the landlord.
I have heard countless stories from landlords who have gone months and months without seeing a single penny, despite the fact their tenant is getting their rent paid by the government.
Their hands are tied. It takes a court order and even more money to evict them, and then they still have to dig into their own pockets to pay the mortgage.
The tenant, however, can just move onto the next place.

[LazyGun]

I had thought that a fair number of private landlords were against LHA of the tenants being paid directly to them, because such payments were often historically "re-adjusted", often meaning the landlord had to repay some money to the Benefits Agency in question.

Article from 2011 which talks about why finding accomodation can be difficult for those on Housing Benefit, and what could be done or areas that need to be addressed to improve the situation, which i thought was quite interesting;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/housing-network/2012/may/02/tenants-housing-benefit-private-landlords

[Purple_Popple]

That's told me Lol. No need to get so uppity Sharingan. It wasn't too offend you. How come you aren't being home schooled right now?

[MadMen]

Some chav on an internet forum asking why she can't find a landlord to accept her housing benefit payments is not what I was looking for, no.

Fact is, not ALL or even "most" landlords won't accept housing benefit and, just because they do, doesn't mean the property will be a dive, or in a 'bad' area.

Thank you for the link, Lazy_gun. Made for interesting reading ;-)

[magsmay]

Back in for lunch -twins are great -two nice big males -at least the weather is on our side. ;-)) Just a point on BTL mortgages - the Mortgage Companies rarely if ever stipulate what sort of Tenant you have -it would be impossible to keep track of every single property and who was in it -off topic I know but i really do not like sweeping statements made for the purpose of proving a point - a point that is not correct. Thank you for some very interesting and informed replies ;-)

[MadMen]

Mags, I was going to state the very same fact - but couldn't be bothered with the whole "well my father...." reply.... :P

Great news about the twins! What a lovely way to spend the day :-)

[LazyGun]

To be fair - The 2 biggest BTL mortgage - Lloyds Banking Group and the Nationwide group - did indeed have restrictions on arranging BTL mortgages for landlords with HB tenants - and they alone account for nearly half of all BTL mortgages arranged in this country.

These restrictions have, since they recieved some public attention, been reversed, but that has only happened literally in the last month or so...

http://www.residentbroker.co.uk/buy-to-let-lenders-in-benefit-tenant-u-turn/

[MadMen]

LG, that is interesting actually as I know for a fact my landlord is with Lloyds and I am the only tenant he has that's working (well I was at the time).
All the others are on HB, so how does that work?

[in a mo]

£500 a week you are joking ,I wish, does the rent have come out of this .
The other brainwave the Government had is that all the monies are to to be paid directly to the families that includes the rent ,in a trial area 85% are now behind with the rent ,before all rents were paid to the landlords. Where is the sense in that .

[bednobs]

you just don't tell them - as long as they get the money, they don't care as such. it's not like they check really. I have a feeling my mortgage has a condition that the house has to be lived in and not left empty for more than 1 month at a time. However, if i was going on a six week jaunt to NZ, i probably wouln't tellt hem

[MadMen]

I'll say it again, paying rent to the tenant is no good. It just opens it up to abuse and it's the landlord who's left out of pocket.

In a mo, I'm pretty sure that £500 a week has to have rent deducted.

[MadMen]

bednobs, I'm pretty sure that's more for insurance purposes.

[LazyGun]

@Madmen - No idea :) Cannot comment on individual cases, just on what the stats and surveys tell us.

There has been a concern amongst private landlords for some time that they cannot get BTL mortgages if they have tenants on HB, because the mortgage companies make that a condition of the mortgage - and it has been pretty widespread.
Another, lesser issue is insurance premiums - insurers often charge landlords more in premium payments if there tenants are in receipt of HB, despite there being no reports or evidence to demonstrate that such tenants automatically pose a greater risk of claims being made.....

There are all sorts of really quite complex issues surrounding letting, renting, housing benefit etc which need to be sorted out...

[magsmay]

We have 2 BTL mortgages -both Tenants are on housing benefit and both mortgages with Lloyds -they were taken out over 5 years ago and we were never asked or restricted on who we could accept as tenants

[LazyGun]

@ bedknobs - I thought we were talking specifically about BTL mortgages, rather than a regular mortgage where someone then goes on to rent out a room or house.

You could potentially get into all sorts of trouble if you are subletting on just a regular mortgage, although i agree the chances are remote - I have seen it happen though...

[MadMen]

Hmm, interesting. I suspect if my landlord saw this he'd think "it's none of your god damn business"! :)

Thinking about it, my sister has a flat she rents out to a couple on HB, and she's with Lloyds too. Perhaps, like you say, it's complicated, and doesn't apply to every single BTL mortgage.