16 Landlord Tips For Housing Benefit Tenants

There has been lengthly raging debates on some forums of late regarding whether landlords should bother to accept housing benefit tenants.

Those who follow me on twitter will know I have participated in many of those discussions.

So I thought I would do a bit of a round up of tips from a landlords point of view, so that if you are considering allowing DSS or similar, then here are a few good ideas from experienced landlords in the field to help you along.

Tips For Landlords

1. Pensioners can make great tenants who will probably stay long term and who have a stable income, they would tend do all their own repairs.
2. Always meet the children of any potential HB applicant- you can tell a lot about a person when they deal with their children.
3. Call their previous landlord and the one before that if possible, and  phone/fax housing associations to verify that they paid the rent and of course.
4. Check on CCJs and get a copy of their passport / next of kin details etc.
5. Anyone on  permanent Disability Living Allowance will attract a very high rent.
6. Care-leavers don’t get shared room rate if they are under 25 they get a much higher level-check with your council.
7. If tenant is found to be fraudulently claiming, the council will come to you to claw back the rent.
8. Be aware that your property will get a lot of wear and tear as they tend to be home all day.
9. Get familiar with the rules and regulations, HB tenants can be amazingly well versed at playing the system.
10. Go with the new prospective tenant to sign the papers so the  LHA is paid directly-you get regular guaranteed rent.
11. Don’t bother going to the council to get Accreditation. They will make you jump through so many hoops it’s really not worth it
12. Make your AST water tight. Eg; tenants being responsible for claw back repayment; allowing you to discuss their claim with the Council; not having overnight visitors more than twice a week; no subletting; cleanliness; noise & disruption to neighbors etc.
13. Put hard wearing kitchens in, and darker carpets with good underlay-so as to minimise wear and tear.
14. Rental insurance is always a useful policy to have in place, especially if you’re not 100% sure of your tenants credibility.
15. Be certain you have all your safety certs in place, councils are sticklers for rules, and one slip could land you with major legal problems later.
16. Be aware that HB tenants WILL take up more of your time, they tend to be more ‘dependent’ as people and require more assistance at the start and during the tenancy.

These tips were collected from various forums including: The Property Investment Project and Property Tribes

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