Renting on benefits

Why might it be of interest?

While it is illegal for landlords to discriminate against people on benefits it happens and there’s not much you can do about it.

What you can do is look widely – and there are a number of websites you can use to help you find a suitable property – and be prepared with evidence that you would be a reliable tenant.

What you can offer

• Have a guarantor – this is someone who is able to pay your rent if you can’t
  • They will have to sign an agreement with the agent or landlord
  • Have their references and financial information, credit history, etc available
• Pay rent in advance – 2 months if you can manage it
  • A Renters rights bill is currently being considered which will limit the amount of advance rent a landlord can ask for to about 5 or 6 weeks
  • So offering more might be helpful
• You will need references
  • Preferably from previous leases but that’s probably not likely
  • So have references from a range of people
    • Personal – family friend
    • School / college tutor
    • A professional who knows you reasonably well – GP for example
  • Have evidence of your benefits and when they are paid
  • Offer to have the rent paid directly to the landlord from benefits
    • You can stop this at any time so it’s not really a guarantee but it does show willingness
  • Do you have evidence of your reliability in other ways? For example:
    • You make regular payments on a credit card or loan
    • Your bank account is always in the black
    • You have a budget plan – maybe a spreadsheet of income and outgoings
  • You must be up front about being on benefits
  • Timing of when rent is due might be an issue – it may be that your benefits come in after the rent due date
    • Can you do anything about this?
    • You won’t be able to change your benefits pay date
    • But can you pay enough up front that you are always ahead?

What you can do

• Have a document pack ready to go with all of the above available
  • Have multiple copies so you can deal with multiple landlords or agents at a time
• Write a short renter’s profile as your introduction to include:
  • Who you are
  • How your rent will be paid
  • What support is in place
    • eg a support worker, family involvement, or managed payments
• Visit agents in person and with your pack
• If you have contact details for a landlord – write to them with your evidence and ask them to reconsider
• Would this approach work with managing agents?
• Can you create a credit score? See below
• Does the council have a scheme where they manage lettings?
  • https://www.richmond.gov.uk/services/housing/private_housing/information_for_landlords/landlord_lettings
  • This is information for landlords but suggests that the council must have a list of landlords who do accept people on benefits
  • Google Private Rented Sector Access schemes
• Look online
  • Some of these are online estate agents but others are specifically to support people on benefits find properties to rent

Online resources

• www.dsslondon.com
• www.dss-accepted.co.uk
• www.spareroom.com
• www.findaproperty.co.uk
• www.rightmove.co.uk
• www.zoopla.co.uk
• www.dssmove.co.uk
• www.openrent.co.uk

• https://movingsoon.co.uk/dss-accepted/ – however a quick search didn’t come up with anything local
• https://app.dssmove.co.uk/
• https://findmymove.co.uk/dss-accepting-landlords-a-guide-to-finding-dss-friendly-rental-properties/
• https://dsslocal.com/
• https://www.gumtree.com/flats-houses/property-to-rent/uk/london/srpsearch+dss-welcome

Try entering DSS accepted or benefits considered in the keyword search

If you are open to sharing a house or flat with others:

• www.spareroom.co.uk
• www.roombuddies.com
• www.easyroommate.co.uk

Alternative options

• Join the housing register and get a referral to the vulnerable person’s queue
  • Not sure how this happens – if an assessment is triggered by the application to the housing register or if it needs a social care or similar referral
  • This does not guarantee a flat being offered any time soon but it raises the priority of a single young person
• Buy your own property
  • An organisation called My Safe Home:  https://mysafehome.info/ can support people on benefits to buy a home on a shared ownership basis
  • This means that the person buys, say, 25% of the home and rents the other 75% from the housing association
  • Rent is usually covered by the UC housing element
  • The person pays a mortgage for the part they are buying
    • Max of £100k
    • Government scheme to support mortgage payments

The aim is to make it affordable to a person on benefits

Credit history / score

Most of our young people will not have a credit history which will lead to no or a low credit score – which has the potential to affect the ability to get a loan, lease a property, etc as a credit check is very often part of these processes.

There’s a good reason for this, of course!  Many of our young people cannot manage money effectively so to have a credit card or a loan would possibly be risky and open them up to going into debt – which would have a very negative effect on a credit score.

However, there may be ways that our more able young people could have some credit that they can manage.  I say ‘more able’ as the young person would have to have capacity to open an account in their own name:

• Keep a low credit limit
• Keep well within the limit
• Make regular payments – perhaps by direct debit
• Stick with the account long term – don’t chop and change
• Be on the electoral register

This is a delicate balance as having a credit card or loan could create more problems than it solves but it may be something for you to consider.