Tips For DSS/Benefit Tenants That Can’t Find A Property To Rent

@Mr SPT that's a scam. Tell your MP, you can email them easily these days. There are laws about what estate agents can charge. Write to all the papers. Keep an eye out for journalists looking for stories, you see requests regularly in social media and also on newspaper sites. I'm sure I've seen requests on the BBC website too, like "tell your story". Or just find a journalist covering this topic and email them direct. Homelessness and the state of housing is headline news right now. The government have promised to spend £1 billion on 'tackling' the issue. (a problem they caused!) The press will be interested in what happened to you, especially as you are a former paramedic, now sick/disabled. Definitely name and shame the council! They utterly failed you. Take photos of all the problems.

Best of luck with everything! I hope you move asap and I hope your new home is better. Then tell the world what happened. Put it on social media, write a blog, it will be shared, I promise you. Everyone wants to know who to avoid. Name and shame the estate agent.

Fingers crossed you move soon!

@ On the other hand

Hi, what I mean about the government making it harder for private landlords is increased taxes ( if you want less of something , tax it - in this case rented accommodation) making private rents more of an administrative nightmare and making it incredibly hard and expensive to get rid of a non paying or destructive tenant. One must therefore assume that the reason for all this angst against private landlords is because they are not necessary due to the vast amount of council or state housing available in excellent condition and areas at reasonable rentals. If this state housing is NOT available as I have described why are they coming down so hard on private landlords?

@andrewa Hi, thanks for the reply. That's interesting, especially given 1 in 5 MPs are landlords and they make the law. Theresa May is a landlord. https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/almost-one-in-five-mps-are-landlords

It does make you wonder why the government would do that whilst at the same time sell off council houses and housing association properties. There's a lot written on this so it's easy to google. You'll see reports from official bodies like Shelter and loads in the Mirror, Guardian, Independent, probably even the right wing press which is pretty much the rest of them. e.g. this is from 2016, only 8% of people live in council homes where previously it was 42% https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/04/end-of-council-housing-bill-secure-tenancies-pay-to-stay

I can't log in to this, but if anyone else can, it says "Westminster Council is set to turn a housing association it established into a wholly owned subsidiary in response to government deregulation" https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/westminster-council-to-take-full-ownership-of-housing-association-54923
I am not sure what deregulation of a housing association means. It's going private?

Oh great. "Many councils have transferred their entire housing stock to housing associations." https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/council_housing_association/how_to_get_a_housing_association_home

So to me, that looks like council housing -> housing association > deregulation -> private.

Mega landlord https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/11/housing-association-merger-will-lead-to-social-cleansing-warn-tenants
That's a step back to pre-1950s. It's why there were so many slums across the country, because landlords just weren't taking responsibility.

I don't know where you live but I am in London and have been here 30-odd years. I've seen how things have slowly deteriorated since the late 90s. It was slow at first, very subtle, the odd repair not done here, the occasional difficult landlord there. Then after 2008, the proverbial hit the fan and here we are. It's been a rapid decline.

I put myself on my council's housing list at the end of the 90s or something, I knew it would take about 10 years but I thought may as well have the option. What happened? They updated their system and threw me off the list. I had no idea until I needed their help a few years ago.

My fears about social cleansing and gentrification (described above) have come true. I can't believe that. :(

This is the government's page for housing stock https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-housing-communities-and-local-government

Oh this is new. Didn't see it in the press yesterday, but it's just been announced. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-boost-to-rogue-landlord-crackdown So that's better protection for tenants, which is about time. It'll be difficult to enforce when it comes to overcrowding though, wouldn't that mean evicting the tenants? And put them where? At present, in London, I'm hearing about temporary accommodation for the homeless that are overcrowded (i.e. a family) where the only options councils are offering are homes in high rises with no lifts, which is no good if you're a parent with small children or expecting, or sick/disabled, or elderly, or leave the city, which means leaving parents, relatives, friends, extended family, your local community, your doctor, dentist etc. ie social cleansing.

There's lots of announcements about 'government plans'. But we know from the last 8 years that doesn't mean much. They have 'planned' to build new homes in this time, but planning and doing are two different things. What happened in practice is building started... and that's it. Very little building or completing! Just empty tracts of land with building 'works'. Someone's making money somewhere. Or the other one where building work did complete, but they're luxury homes to be sold to... ??? Who's got the money? So that means entire streets left empty because no one can afford to live there. It's what was happening where I lived before on my road and the local area, and I'm seeing it again where I am now.

You can go down a rabbit hole looking up this stuff, there's a ton in the press. But basically, that horrific thought you had is true - state housing is NOT available, and they're coming down hard on private landlords and, by the sound of things, about to get harder. So that means... more people on the streets. In London, 1 in 59 people are homeless, around the country it's 1 in 200. You'll find all this and more once you start googling. Happy reading.

@andrewa 1 in 59 people in London are homeless, 1 in 200 around the country https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/kz3ke3/this-shambolic-government-isnt-just-in-chaos-its-killing-people

The other thing to look at is 'excess deaths', which is the number dead above what should be average/normal. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/13/conservative-governments-kill-people-health-disability-benefits-prisons

Because if people aren't housed, they either end up on the streets or dead - by their own hand or eventually on the streets, because living on the street shortens lives. There seem to be a few reasons why people aren't housed. Most of it looks like Tory policy.

There you go. That's Tory governments for you. We know more today because we have social media which is holding the government to account, seeing as the press are in their pocket and not doing it. We will never know the true stats of the Thatcher/Major years, Tories shred any awkward evidence. But I was here in London then and saw it for myself.

I don't want to go off-topic but it is important to understand this is part of a much bigger story that goes back decades and goes worldwide to do with neoliberalism, which is basically extreme capitalism. We're witnessing capitalism eat itself. From our point of view, what's important for us to focus on is a rotten corrupt system that's not serving anyone, not tenant, and by the sound of things not landlords if you're not happy either. So then what? Where do we go from here? Do we work together? Attack each other? How does that help? What's wrong with the system? where? what can we do better?

So far, I like Labour's ideas, so I support them. We all need a system that works and we all need protecting from the worse elements.

This post frustrates me, in the fact things should be, but are not getting better. I work with vulnerable people who are living in supported living homes, that are ready to live independently. The reality is there is not enough social housing so I have to look for landlords that accept DSS. As everyone on here has discovered this is no easy task. I, for obvious reasons do not want them to get lumbered with slum landlords so the battle is what to do. For years we lived in a society where people with mental health would be institutionalised and it seems its going that way again. I really hope one day (sooner rather than later) things will change.

I was waiting for this, although I didn't dare hope, the housing market has been so stubbornly robust for 25-30-odd years.

“There has been an increase in properties available for rent and no increase in tenant demand, so rent values are falling, and we expect this trend to continue.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/apr/12/surveyors-issue-most-downbeat-assessment-of-housing-market-for-five-years

"no increase in tenant demand" - once people have been failed by the government so they don't get the support they need (housing benefit), the only option is death or the streets.

The quote is for Guildford, but one of my neighbours said her rent has gone down, and we're in London.

I am angry at landlords who don't know what they're doing and think it's enough to "run a business". But also, I recognise they're not getting the support they need either. I think there needs to be a shift in attitude. Landlords are not "running a business", they are providing homes. If they're providing a service, then provide the service. The argument about 'difficult tenants' is another topic, and after 50 years of Daily Mail hateful front pages, not to mention the prejudice and hate in these threads, I think we've pretty much covered every base on that one. It's time to flip the script and apply the same scrutiny to landlords. And I'll be generous, to the system too.

But in Woverhampton, Andrew Pearce, of Millennium Properties, said:
“Demand is at an all-time high"

Well, let's see. I wonder how much this is typical of the country? Probably worst in the capital, but iirc, big cities like Manchester are affected too.

Over 25% of Southwark houses sold to foreign investors http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-london-43487517?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5acdecd70ee14a06731d7682&Over%2025_%20of%20Southwark%20houses%20sold%20to%20foreign%20investors&&ns_fee=0#post_5acdecd70ee14a06731d7682

Yeah, lets see.

A Guildford estate agent and your neighbour has said rents are going down.

- Don't get your hopes up too much pal.

What's with the tone? Why are you upset, Benji?

If anyone works with the homeless, Guardian want to hear from you about rising deaths.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/11/why-are-deaths-of-uk-homeless-people-rising-share-your-thoughts

Further reading: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/11/deaths-of-uk-homeless-people-more-than-double-in-five-years?CMP=share_btn_tw

This is entirely on-topic, before anybody argues. This is what happens when people are denied a home for whatever reason. This is where prejudice and hate towards benefit claimants gets you, that neoliberal rhetoric in every right wing paper about 'workers and shirkers', striver/skiver, 'hardworking people'.

If any landlord feels bad, sit with your discomfort and deal with it. The rest of us have our survival to worry about, your feelings aren't on the list.

"A homeowner in a housing complex in London with Grenfell-type cladding has been told the value of her £475,000 home has collapsed and is now just £50,000."

"It is likely that thousands of private homeowners are in Langevin’s situation, with government data showing 301 blocks over 18 metres tall have Grenfell-type cladding, of which 130 are in the private sector and 13 are hospitals or schools. Of the public buildings, only seven have had their cladding replaced so far."

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/16/value-of-london-flats-slashed-by-grenfell-style-cladding

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/16/landlords-social-parasites-last-people-should-be-honouring-buy-to-let

I was waiting for this. Inevitable really. So we've witnessed the shift of a paradigm, from demonising people in need, "piss-taking DSS tenants", to where criticism rightly belongs, the abusers, let's call them "piss-taking landlords".

You've been waiting for a lot of things;

Rents to drop.
House prices to crash.
Some knobhead snowflake at the Graun to be taken as a serious journalist.
Shit tenants to be offered decent properties.

Keep waiting pal.

A lot of "shit tenants" are dead. Pal. They would have been denied homes, along with many, many others simply for the fact they were 'DSS'.
You're obviously upset, but not about this.
There's most likely a long way to go yet, the housing market isn't going to collapse anytime soon. But neither is there stability and there won't be for a long while because of Brexit for one. I hadn't thought of Grenfell/shit cladding as a reason, who knows what other factors will surface to surprise us.
For tenants, that volatility of the housing market is reason to hope after all these years of despair. Things are changing. And we can push for more change.
Now is exactly the time to think about what we need as we revert back to a 'nation of renters'. Maybe one idea is to relieve "shit landlords" of their properties and automatically make them council homes. Might suggest it to Labour actually, I like it. Some "shit landlords" have entire portfolios of properties. It can be part of the war on inequality.
I'm not waiting, I'm actively engaging. Pal.

It is not the responsibility of private landlords to house the most vulnerable in society, nor should it be, that is what councils are paid to do and have the expertise for.

Good luck waiting for any British Government to confiscate property and re-distribute wealth, comrade. The British communist party died on its arse in 1991 for very good reason.

Except councils aren't doing it and referring people to private landlords.

If you have tenants, I hope they see your comments. You don't see people, you see money.

How many tenants have you turned away? How many still alive, do you think...?

Councils are not housing people because the council do not have properties.

Landlords do not want to accept DSS so they don’t have to.

Housing Associations do private rent but trying to find one in London is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
I have a list of 1718 councils/housing associations/charities that I have to go through to see if any would be suitable. So far I’m on 245, I’ve found 3 that might be able to work alongside me.
It’s just ridiculous.

Excellent investigative journalism from the Manchester Evening News

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/hidden-manchester-slums-story-squalor-14561374

It's getting worse, demand is rising and the supply is diminishing. Plus some landlords will no longer take people at all if they’re on universal credit.

The Manchester news article is about B&B's, not private landlords.
This is a result of driving out private landlords through punitive taxation and legislation.
A lot more of this to come.
These squalid B&B's are licensed, regulated and endorsed by local councils BTW.

73% of universal credit tenants in arrears
29% of non universal credit tenants in arrears
(Survey of 43 housing associations)

https://news.sky.com/story/what-impact-is-universal-credit-having-11343838

Good link! Thanks. Haven't seen it in Twitter yet. News today is increased pressure on Theresa and Amber to resign over Windrush.

Please do share links on what's happening to landlords. I hardly see any of those stories in the press. Landlords have most of the balance of power, so we mostly hear the impact of that on powerless tenants.

There is also ingrained hatred towards benefit claimants that goes unquestioned. It's like a conveyor belt. Once your circumstances change for the worst, that's it, you're done for. There was a story yesterday of a newspaper journalist, Guardian I think?, who went to a foodbank to write a report, then a few weeks later, was there for herself. It can happen to anyone.

Now homeowners are at risk of being homeless https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/tory-axe-of-mortgage-interest-benefit-has-plunged-thousands-into-risk-of-homelessness-labour-claims-support-for-mortgage-interest_uk_5ae04a14e4b07560f3971055

Possibly off-topic. If they don't qualify for help with their mortgage, they won't qualify for anything else, least of all present as DSS tenants, "shitty" or otherwise. However, they might under some rule I'm not aware of, in which case they will approach private landlords along with exploring all other options.

Landlords need a full picture of what's happening and where "shitty" tenants come from.

This is true. The 'hostile environment' towards the Windrush generation is the same for the sick/disabled and anyone on benefits.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/26/hostile-environment-britain-disabled-people-windrush-benefits

Even when landlords want to do everything to help, their hands are tied when rent is sanctioned. It didn't used to be, it changed after 2010 when the Tories got in. There are sanctions which aren't officially sanctions where rent is stopped because someone is assessed again. They're sanctions, they just don't want them to count, keeps the numbers down on their records. Before 2010, if you were sick/disabled and up for annual assessment again, rent continued to be paid.

It is interesting Tory MPs and voters are distancing themselves from the Windrush scandal, holding their hands up, "I'm not racist, me" when the Tory base is racist, but strangely silent on the same policy towards the sick/disabled and the poor, which includes the working poor. To me, the silence means tacit permission to continue demonising them. It's ok to continue to hate these groups. And why not, they're easy targets, it's not like they have anything to help them fight back, there's barely anything to help them survive. When every avenue is cut off, the only option left for many is to die asap.

Obviously, Tories aren't bothered about being accused of racism, their only concern is trade deals with the Commonwealth post-Brexit. Which is why everyone else can hurry up and die. And landlords are incentivised not to rent to them because they can't work with irregular rent payments. Same goes for councils and housing associations. All round, Tory policy is hostile to everybody concerned, but the people who pay the highest price are those who pay with their lives. The shitty tenants.

And half the country will go and vote Tory next week! Yayyy! Let's have more of this! We haven't had enough! There's still too many poor people!! The shitty scroungers! Faking their disabilities! Everyone knows if you're not in a wheelchair there's nothing wrong with you! Even the wheelchair ones are dodgy! If they're out after 5pm something's not right! Gerrajob!

/sarcasm obviously

It's been planned by the Tories since day one. They dirtied the poor and disabled and those needing affordable homes. Fact is, if you work just to pay rent every month and are just 1 pay away from homelessness, you are enslaved in the system. So many people are tied up. Living with little left over for anything else each month. I now have to rent in the private sector, which was not easy, but with family help and a guarantor, we got a 2 bed flat for £1450 a month!! We have to get a local allowance to top up the rent, but been paying it without fail for 15 month. So much for the theory that HB tenants all fall into arrears and don't pay their rent. Load of rubbish to tarnish everyone with the same rubbish. Why have they not got on with the job of building more social and real affordable housing yet?

OnTheOtherHand: your analysis is correct. If anyone had bothered to read The Social Care Act 2012 and Housing Construction Legislations and its updates, tories intent was very clear. Cull of the poor, elderly, chronically sick, low wage earners, unproductives. Social housing hardly exists, short hold tenancy contracts from so called Housing Associations, exhorbitant rents for sheltered accommodation etc.. privatized to compete with private rent accommodation. There is no rent control and no protective laws to protect tenants. So called social landlords rents are now very high, housing charities's no long subisidized, told the few vacancies they have, next to none must to the homeless. Scapegoating those benefits from landlords, leaves many homeless. Homelessness will continue to rise, as will hundreds of thousands of deaths due to austerity. I stongly advise those on low income not to ha.ve children, because if they do become homeless, social services will step in and remove children, whilst leaving parents homeless. Please share any advice you have on how to find accommodation if on benefits, disabled, sick, as too many are on the streets!! There are NO laws, no incentives for local councils nationwide to be held accountable nor do they have a duty to provide adequate housing. Its left at the discretion of councils to apply some loosely defined, ambiguous guidance from central governments. I am chronically ill, a wheelchair user, ex home owner professional, not working, in receipt of disability and other benefits, with excellent renting references, and still unable to find private accommodation nor help from the local council. Too ill to go in temporary accommodation wherever, desperate. Thank you

@NoBody, thank you for backing me up, and sorry to hear of your circumstances. I hope things turn around for you soon. When I was in your position, I stopped hoping, just carried on regardless and waited to see where I ended up. I got a lucky break in the end. I hope you do too. xx
I saw an article recently that children are being sent to care homes along the coast, and then disappearing. I was too disturbed to read it, but I wondered where all those children were coming from. Makes sense they're taken from the homeless. I didn't join those dots. It's unthinkable.
And that's Tory policy right there - the unthinkable. It's fascist. Where Trump is overtly fascist, here it's covert. You only need a cursory knowledge of fascism to know Hitler was inspired by the British Empire, and it was the British who invented concentration camps. Also British is destroying any and all evidence of wrongdoing, hence 'no records' of what happens to people once they fall out of the system. They used to keep records of the dead and newly destitute in 2010, but the figures were so damning, they stopped. Destroying evidence is also why we know so little of what happened when Thatcher was in power.
We are creeping further and further towards a fascist authoritarian state. The hard right, ERG, are in power, thanks to the weakest PM in history. The centre ground collapsed 10 years ago. The only real options right now for voters are hard/alt-right (normalised as right wing), and left (so-called 'hard' or 'radical', it's only 'radical' to you if you're right wing. A little bit of googling of governments pre-60s will show you these 'radical' left policies were the norm for both Labour and Tories).
The middle class is disappearing. They're being erased. Where are they? Joining the 1%? (1% = earning £80,000 or more). Nope, they're getting poorer. What's happening to those poor already? Dead or disappearing onto the streets. There are people living in tents in the countryside. 85% of the homeless in the UK are Brits.
The high street is being erased. How many thousands lost their jobs this year? What happened to them? Welfare support is hard to get, near impossible if they're applying for Universal Credit, which is so badly designed it's making the poor poorer.
The disappearing high street is a sign of a squeezed middle class. Small business owners are being closed down too. BBC will have us believe we're shopping online more, but never provide figures. That's because we're not. We don't have the disposable income we used to. Stagnant wages, negligible wage rises, inflation, rising living costs, falling pound thanks to Brexit = we have less money in real terms than we used to.
Tories brag of 'record employment', but you only have to be employed for one hour to count. Yes - one hour.
That money Tories have promised for the NHS? That's to help dismantle it and sell it off. It's not what you think it's for.
I am sick/disabled and already I have been unable to get routine medications on prescription. It will be worse after Brexit.
When I first realised how bad things were (above) and envisioned what might lie ahead, I saw all this. So I haven't been shocked that it's happening, I'm just watching it unfold and know that there but for the grace of God go I. I feel I am on borrowed time. My future is compromised. I don't have that sense of living till whenever anymore. I don't feel safe. I won't till Labour are in power. I am sick/disabled to begin with, the stress is causing my condition to deteriorate. I feel I'm in decline, but I'm not old enough to feel like that yet. The world's biggest killer is stress. It's no accident the welfare system is designed the way it is.
I used to be upset. Now I'm just numb. I bear witness to deluded Tory voters desperately holding on to their bubbles, some version of reality they've been sold. A false narrative. Fake news. They're in for a shock. Or maybe not. Because there aren't any records to be reported in the news. FOI request all you like, records have been destroyed or deliberately not kept. BBC have drifted so far to the right they're aligned with UKIP, and routinely lie by omission. They reach about 70% of the country.
We could go from this to a Labour government. Tory voters would be annoyed and try and get their beloved Tory government back, except they wouldn't be able to. The Tory party is destroying itself. It won't survive what it's doing to itself right now. Neoliberalism (extreme capitalism) is over. There is no future for Conservatism. That leaves Tory voters lost. They're lost today anyway. Many disillusioned Tory voters stayed at home than vote at the recent local elections, they're so ashamed at what Tories have done.
The alternative is Tories meddle with the next election again and force another win. But they are already the zombie party, what will they be then? This is something to consider seriously because it is highly likely. It's not just Russian interference (Cambridge Analytica) and gerrymandering, it's also that Tories 'pay for social media presence', i.e. they have their own troll farms. They only have to target a small number of voters to effect a win. They've been doing it for years already. If you knew what you were looking at, you will have seen it too.
I don't feel sorry for Tory voters. They brought this on themselves. This is where ignorance, greed and stupidity gets you. Every death is on them. Only about 25% of the electorate are die-hard Tory voters, they're the racist ones too. Tories know this, hence dogwhistle campaigns every election. They vote for politics of hate. Hate towards anyone in need, or not white, or female. Children count as in need, because they need schools. The elderly count as in need because they need healthcare. Money spent on those in need is money not going into private coffers or disappearing offshore.
People used to wonder about Nazi Germany. They wondered how ordinary citizens let it happen. You're looking at it. And Tory voters are going out and voting for more.
On the left, we're seeing 'collective responsibility' as a pushback emerging now. This is what social democracy is - restoring society, building communities, reintroducing the idea that we have each other's back. Empathy, compassion, support. These are the new politics that are so 'radical' to the right wing. This is what Corbyn's Labour stands for. Not that you'd know it with our toxic media.

@OnTheOtherHand: Brilliant analysis. Concur with all you wrote. Totally empathize with your situation, illness, disability!!! Being vulnerable under neolib tories is indeed chilling, brutal, sinister, scary. Landlords, beware, tories are coming after you next, nobody will escape their looting, they asset grabbing and will not stop. Have you read Kitty Jones's blog? Excellent articles, factual, informed. Do you have a twitter account?

Hi NoBody,
Thanks!
Kitty Jones is absolutely brilliant. I've been following her work for some years.
For those who don't know, she is a sick/disabled writer who has a blog. She's extremely intelligent and insightful, she has a PhD, her articles are well researched. I spent a summer going through her past articles. She saw all this coming years ago.
I do use Twitter, but I don't want to share my username here. I know the DWP watch all that we do, (IP Bill) I am scared of what they will use against me. So for example, right now, I am being 'transferred' from DLA, which was supposed to be 'indefinite', to the new PIP. It's just an exercise to kill more people, about 50% end up worse off. I have a masters degree and this is harder than anything I did at university. The new PIP is a bit of a hybrid monstrosity, a DLA/ESA hodgepodge that makes no sense and is passed off as 'complex'. And because our internet use is monitored and DWP have spies in social media, I can't complain or ask for support. I can't talk about what's happening to me or how I'm feeling, unless I do it anonymously, eg as I have here. That's deliberate. No support means less and less hope, rising despair and distress, which means if the stress doesn't kill me, I'll do it myself. Can't wait for the medical where they ask me about suicide and why I haven't done it yet and what I would do. Again.
Society is at a loss regarding people in our shoes. Someone has a cold and everyone's all over them, 'oh you poor thing, let me take over your life and do everything for you!'. But go through this, 'f*** off, you're on your own, your despair is contagious and you are disgusting to me, euwwww.' This is how bonds break and society disintegrates, when friends and family turn away from those in need.
A lot of people have absolutely no idea what the Tories are doing to the country, landlords included, because the only topic that saturates media is Brexit. Nice handy distraction. People believe Brexit is the biggest issue of the day because they're told that constantly. No it's not. The biggest issue right now is austerity and the devastation it's causing.

I'm a disabled graduate living in South Belfast and the difficulty of finding a landlord who will accept Housing Benefit is absurd.

I have been looking for a new apartment for seven months now. Two properties went vacant for a month at the landlord's expense rather than let to me. Five openly refused housing benefit under any circumstances.

I have a perfect rent record for five years. I have a guarantor. I've offered to pay double deposit. I've offered to pay the entire year's rent up-front. Nobody will rent to me because I'm on housing benefit.

Landlords won't accept the rent paid directly because it makes them liable in the event of overpayment, and because most insurance companies won't cover DSS tenants or charge a premium to do so.

If you're disabled in this country, you live with family or you live on the streets. This won't change until it's made illegal to refuse housing benefit and illegal to offer insurance that forces landlords to reject housing benefit claimants.

@John Freeman,

You're right. That's very well put.

Shelter are raising awareness on this issue right now - petition https://england.shelter.org.uk/support_us/campaigns/dss-christmas - and it's also a news story that's gaining more and more attention. The argument is it's illegal to deny people just because they're on benefits, because that's the same as the old days when landlords put signs up "no blacks, no Irish, no dogs" who they wouldn't let to. It is exactly the same. It's discrimination.

https://twitter.com/Shelter/status/1060493058788220928
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/08/rental-homes-advertised-excluding-benefits-claimants-no-dss?CMP=twt_gu

I know from my own experience when I was searching, it's like this all over the country.

The general public can't bear photos of visibly sick/disabled people sleeping in the street with their wheelchairs folded neatly next to them. People around the country are taking pics and posting them to their social media, which is blowing open whatever the Tories would have us believe. See Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. The press take the photos and publish stories around them, when they're allowed to. The press are gagged from reporting anything that paints the Tories in a bad light, the same as charities and organisations are gagged. https://twitter.com/pmorganbentley/status/1060072525265276929 The government has any number of law suits against the Guardian going back to when Cameron was PM. The MH charity Mind ignored the government recently:
Twitter thread https://twitter.com/MindCharity/status/1059861373843333120

If you have a hidden disability, obviously, you're screwed, no sympathy you, you look fine. The general public don't know about things like that. They only know disability = wheelchair. But there is sympathy for mental health issues, elderly, children, babies [https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/13785482.tragedy-as-baby-who-slept-in-car-with-homeless-parents-dies/], veterans. It's disgusting that some people bang on about poppies but don't care how many former soldiers are homeless.

Landlords make up all sorts of excuses not to let to people on benefits. It's all bullshit. There is no inconvenience to them. It's just an excuse to discriminate. I am on housing benefit, my landlords insisted payments went directly to them. So whatever excuse you heard, no one ever said it to me. Personally, I prefer it paid to me, then I feel more in control, if there's a problem, I can deal with it straight away, I don't like not knowing. But this isn't the climate to argue if someone gives you a home. My home is below standard. I feel ashamed living here. I know I can't kick up a fuss, they'll kick me out. My housing benefit, I'm in London, is about £900 a month. They're taking the money and putting it in their pockets. This is public money, people pay their taxes so sick/disabled people like me are adequately looked after. My landlord isn't a person, it's a company. I don't know if the money paid to them is staying in the country or not. I know it's not spent on my home.

If you use social media, there are a growing number of grassroots organisations you could get involved with to change the law etc. Follow Shelter and you should find them. I searched Twitter for "renters" and a few came up, including https://www.rentersrightslondon.org/ There's loads and loads of these coming up now. The tables have turned. Landlords don't have the power they think they have. Not when what they are doing is leading to deaths, e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/05/if-you-dont-see-them-they-get-tipped-in-rise-in-rough-sleepers-using-bins-for-shelter

The UN are here right now investigating the government, in particular poverty and homelessness, which would include its treatment of the sick/disabled.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/08/life-on-the-poverty-frontline-un-turns-its-gaze-on-uk
Twitter hashtag #UNVisit2018
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2018/11/08/people-are-sharing-the-truth-about-extreme-uk-poverty-as-the-mainstream-media-lets-them-down/

This is the third UN visit that I know of, the first was about 2014/15, my MP told me about it. Doubt you'll find anything online, the Tories delete stuff. I saw the first report on the UN website around Jan/Feb 2015. A few months later, we had a general election (the one Ed Miliband lost), and Tories were busy deleting stuff off the internet, including results of that first report which had put them in a top 10 list alongside IS. Not a good look! The UN's report vanished from their website too, or at least, I couldn't view it anymore. The UN never investigated any previous government.

I am about to do this, you might like to as well https://dpac.uk.net/2018/10/tell-your-story/

I hope you find a new home soon! Best of luck. :)

It's criminal how they discriminate. In this day and age, it's not acceptable. A hostile environment has been created and encouraged by the government, councils, landlords, right wing media (Daily Mail) to tarnish homelessness, benefits, disability, mental health etc. The fightback has begun. Raise it with MPs, ACORN https://acorntheunion.org.uk/ and many more. Everyone has a right to a decent home, regardless of being poor or rich.

Agree, the fightback has begun.

I was just reading in the Financial Times yesterday that the biggest privatisation since the end of the 70s was land. They sold off the land!! 10% of the country!
https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/11/08/1541675709000/The-collapse-in-public-ownership-of-land/

For some perspective, only about 8% of the country is built. About 92% of the country isn't. Oh wait, it's less - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096 Tories have sold off more land than we have currently built on.

I can't see the article again, FT let you read something once then lock you out, but from what I recall, less public land, and the practice of land banking by builders (where they say they're going to build but never do because reasons*) is partly behind the state of the housing market right now.

* If they built the number of properties we need, it would affect prices, so they deliberately DON'T build, to keep those prices artificially high. Government make half-hearted noises, but really, do nothing. Same reason why luxury apartments like those in the Shard haven't sold. If one sold, it would set a price for the others. So none of them have sold, they're unoccupied. This also means the local council doesn't collect council tax for those empty properties. Talk about burden on society.

How many empty luxury properties near where you live? How many entire streets dark because no one lives there? If everyone's homeless, that's no council tax collected, no wonder councils are going bankrupt.

Tax breaks to the rich means they pay less tax. Over 40% of people don't earn enough to pay income tax, so that's more money not collected by government. https://twitter.com/PJTheEconomist/status/1056949446641106949 That's going on for half the country who qualify for help with rent, which makes them DSS, which puts them in this spiral where they're despised by landlords and have to be gooder than good to get a home.

How many high street businesses closed down this year alone? How many jobs lost? What happened to those people?

I can't believe Tories sold off the land. I found the same story reported by the Guardian earlier this year https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/08/biggest-privatisation-land-margaret-thatcher-britain-housing-crisis

So, Tories could have built new homes, enough for everybody, but because they only have eyes for money, they chose not to. They don't care how many are destitute or dead, they don't care that people protest either. They're happy avoiding keeping records or destroying any evidence if there is any, so they can't be prosecuted. They know they will get away with what they're doing, because we never send rich people to jail. Beg for 50p, 6 months in prison, sell off the land and kill people, well done, here's your bonus.

Incidentally, this is why Tories haven't done anything about immigration yet, to hide how many people have died. The birth rate is slightly up this year, although the general trend is decline, so that hides the death rate too.

Landlords are profiting from government negligence, but they won't be protected down the line when this all collapses. Landlords who turn away people because they don't take DSS are part of the problem. We may not send government officials to jail, but we most certainly will landlords and letting agents, simply because it's easier and the law will allow it. That heat is just starting, if you've seen the pressure on letting agents lately.

It's only thanks to social media we have any idea of the scale of harm right now. I always wonder how it might have been if we had social media in Thatcher's day. It's quite difficult to get any stats of those years, but they are online. For now anyway!

Oh, forgot to say - where's the money from everything neoliberal Tories and New Labour sold? Did they invest it back into the economy? No. Looks like it went offshore. How much? No one knows. Best guess? Best guess - about £13 trillion. More now, probably. No wonder they're so keen on Brexit! New EU laws next year would tackle tax havens.

Many know it was engineered and forward planned. They knew what they were planning. A situation to create shortage in housing and affordability. A hostile environment towards those who through no fault of their own, can't afford a roof over their head. Acorn had a really cool cartoon recently depicting a big fat walrus running away with a renters entire month wage. The reality is it shows, some are just like slaves to pay for the rich lifestyle of others. They get setup and retire nicely, whilst the one who gave his health and slogged away weeks, months, years has little to show for his/her hard labour and faces homelessness and destituation the minute that landlord sells up. Agree with what you said, just hope change will come soon. Too many are suffering in a trap.

Change is here. :)

From an email from Shelter about their campaign:

"Our campaign to end DSS discrimination began with the UK’s ‘leading letting agent’ Ludlow Thompson. Thousands of us emailed, tweeted, and rang their offices to hold them to account for their discriminatory behaviour, and it worked!

Ludlow finally acknowledged their bad practices and took the first steps to stamping it out.

This week, property portals Rightmove and Zoopla issued guidance to letting agents stating that ‘no DSS’ ads shouldn’t be used on their site! And NatWest, national bank and mortgage lender, have committed to reviewing policies which were preventing landlords from renting to people on benefits. This is all massive news."

Petition to call on Bridgfords, Dexters, Fox & Sons, Haart, Hunters, Ludlow Thompson, and Your Move to treat all renters fairly, on a case-by-case basis.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/support_us/campaigns/dss-christmas

The UN's report on Tory austerity and extreme poverty and human rights was published today. Welfare Weekly has reported in depth on it, going to 11 pages. I'm still reading it myself. It is damning, which should come as no surprise https://welfareweekly.com/un-slams-patently-unjust-uk-social-security-system/

This will not end discrimination against DSS tenants, the DSS tenants will now waste time and money applying to rent property's where the risks to the landlord remain constant so it will still be " no DSS" but we just have not put it in writing. What would actually end discrimination and has been proven to work in the US with section 8 tenants ( the American version of DSS tenants) in certain states is where state law says "no pay rentee or breakee stuff then you must make a sexual departure immediately"
In these states landlords welcome section 8 tenants unless the tenant has mental health issues. What a surprise! If UK landlords could evict tenants who don't pay or damage the property quickly and cheaply then DSS tenants would be far more welcome.

@andrewa well that's grim, not to mention weird. Is that a typo?

So the problem from your/landlord point of view is difficulty evicting people?

I kind of sympathise if so. My next door neighbour is a difficult tenant. She's an abusive parent and antisocial (without going into lengthy detail, that's the bare bones of it). Everyone in the building has complained to her landlord, but amazingly, she's still there. Her behaviour has caused damage to the building and inconvenienced others having to pay for expensive repairs. She's hostile and unapproachable. She and her kids leave rubbish in communal areas which the rest of us tidy up. I can't believe she hasn't been evicted.

So something isn't working, and from a tenant point of view, I'm noticing it too.

What I don't understand is, how is it there are people evicted who are on the streets? Panorama did their programme on Universal Credit this week, we saw people getting eviction notices. It looked like a swift process. But on the other hand, there's what you're saying, and what I'm having to live with, where eviction is needed and not happening.

I had my own experience a few years ago, I saw how there are protections for both parties, landlords and tenants, but that's normal and to be expected in any legal process. The protections are the same for every tenant, whether they're 'DSS' or employed. In which case, is the prejudice specifically for DSS tenants? Where are the complaints about employed people?

40% of working people don't earn enough to pay income support, so you could say half the country are on housing benefit. But that wasn't the case before Tory austerity (wilful) and their benefit caps. When Cameron introduced them, he claimed they would force landlords to lower their rents and that's why benefit caps could be justified. Obviously, that didn't happen. And it was bs anyway. He lied.

Sorry for the full detail there, it bores me when anyone responds with tabloid nonsense 'labour dunnit'.

My point there is - people were earning enough to pay their rent until not that long ago, until things turned to sh**. Rents used to be lower, which helped. Back when I was working, before I fell ill, my rent was always a third of my income. Now it's half for a lot of people, or near enough all of it. So people on housing benefit isn't the taboo it used to be, not when it's almost half the working population.

And evicting people must be the same regardless of whether they're DSS or not, because that's how the law works. I don't remember any additional protections for me as a sick/disabled person when I was being evicted.

What have I misunderstood or don't know?

@ on the other hand
Why were you evicted? Non payment of rent? Smashing the place up? Landlord could no longer afford to rent the place due to costs and taxes so sold up? You are a really nasty person or have really nasty person/s living with you?

The reason I ask is the only times I have ever evicted someone is because either they didn't pay or they broke too much stuff. If they were just nasty people I merely waited till the end of the years lease and just didn't renew.

Only a very foolish landlord would evict someone for no reason as it takes a long time and costs a lot of money. As I am retired and my houses are my pension I have rental insurance and the insurance company's have actuary's who analyze claims. Its not discrimination but just statistics like the fact that women have lots more car accidents than men but pay lower premiums as women have more fender benders whilst men have fewer accidents more of them are severe which cost the insurance company more in claims.
With the British governments present tax policies re btl expect more tenants to be evicted as landlords sell up and due to high taxes no new landlords take their place.

@andrewa my whole sorry saga is in this thread, if you want to look back at around 2014, I think it was.

Nope, not a nasty person, didn't smash anything, rent paid. I'm a grown up, reasonable, responsible etc. So I had been there 10 years or so and my landlords wanted to sell. They gave me an eviction notice to take to the council thinking it would help (with me being sick/disabled) but turned out it didn't. Not because my landlords were wrong, but because my council weren't following the rules. The council turned me away. Obviously, the housing crisis was already bad by then, even if it wasn't national news yet. My landlords hadn't heard about it yet anyway, got angry with me, not sure why but our relationship soured. It had been good all those years and now they were hostile bullies. They doubled down on the eviction notices, but kept getting them wrong on technicalities or something, which allowed me more time. It was horrendous because I was being assessed yet again by the DWP at the same time. The stress nearly killed me, it was unbelievable. I had a breakdown. Four years later and I still haven't recovered. So I will not have people like you assume that just because I am a benefit claimant I am in any way in the wrong.

Foolish is probably right. Other people said that to me too. I got help from an advice centre who explained the process and what the landlords have to do, and the cost to them. I did think they'd lost their minds. I asked them about it once, and one of them said something about inland revenue. I don't know what that meant, maybe they were tax dodgers or something. I just assumed they were selling to cash in. When they bought the flat it was about £100k and with the housing market the way it was, suddenly it was over £250k. A lot of people were selling at the time, cashing in.

Even if my landlords did what you did and didn't renew my contract, I think they would have had to try eviction anyway because I couldn't find anywhere to go to even after a year. I have no problem with moving home, it's kind of exciting, but there was absolutely nothing out there. I'm in London, I widened my search across the capital, then outside, then the north as I have connections there, then everywhere because I thought why not. Even Scotland. Which actually I still quite fancy to be honest. I was really shocked at what I discovered. It was a real eye-opener. The state of the country is not being reported in the news. Can't wait to see the UN report in full next year.

I'm a single 63 year old male I have been bidding on WODC for 10 months I haven't had an offer in on DSS I have been looking for private Rent but its impossible to find any in my area,council keep saying look for private what have I been doing no one wants to help, give it to girls that have kids just to get a home what a load of crap don't matter about us older folk who is in need of a home,at moment in staying at my sisters mobile home but that cant go on,any landlords out their please help!

@jypsyrose
What a landlord wants is a tenant who pays his rent on time and doesn't break the place up. So if you are on dss all you have to do is prove that you have paid your rent on time for the last three years (your bank will be able to give you these statements) and give your last two landlords as references.

So if you can prove you are what we landlords call an excellent tenant (you pay on time and are not a shit) then all you need to do is let prospective landlords see your record.

If on the other hand you are someone with a record of late or non payments and smashing places up or turning them into tips ( even if you have mental problems) you have only yourself to blame for being unable to find accomodation.

@andrewa problem with that is the DWP and their random suspensions. They can be for anything, even their own errors.

From my own experience a few years ago, the DWP requested sick notes as they were reassessing me *again* (I'm sick/disabled). They have 20 years or something of assessments for me but anything to make it harder. Before the Tories, it made no difference to HB payments, but once the Tories got in they changed the rules. So imagine my shock when I sent in a new sick note, as requested, only to find this was suddenly considered a 'change in circumstance' which meant a suspension of rent payments. It always took about a month or so to resolve. Because administration.

That's frustrating for everyone. For tenants and landlords alike. It puts a strain on the relationship between them, which is the whole point of the suspensions, they're designed to be corrosive. Will the landlord be angry with the DWP? Maybe. Probably not. They're more likely to take it out on the tenant. And there's another homeless person on the streets. And everyone blaming them, 'you only have yourself to blame'. That was a disgusting thing to say.

It's possible they've stopped doing this now, rules seem to change all the time, but I don't doubt there's something else equally as evil to replace it.

So that means the attitude from landlords to benefit tenants needs to change. They need to be more understanding. There may not be a nice clean record of payments.

I think the way you spoke to @jypsyrose was a bit rude and uncalled for. I can imagine how they must be feeling to be on the receiving end of that. An older gentleman. You don't get to speak to someone like that just because you think they're 'lower' than you. No one is.

@ ontheotherhand
I am a gentleman of 63 years myself so I don't need to take advice on manners from someone like you :)

Jypseyrose asked for advice, I gave it, he doesn't have to take it. It is however very valid! :)

I keep a reserve of money from my income and have for about 40 years to enable me to meet my financial commitments like when the company I worked for went bankrupt or I was fired (I speak truth to power, do not suffer fools and don't like coming to work before 10 or 11 in the morning) a bit like DWP missing the odd dole payment.

I notice you have a fine command of the English language and are computer literate and wheelchair access is now almost universal so I presume your disability/sickness that prevents you getting a job in say data capture or any other sit down clerical job is mental? Your peculiar points of view seem to point in that direction. If your reason for being unemployed is because you are a quadraplegic please accept my apologies.

@andrewa there are all sorts of illnesses and disabilities

You are 100% correct. Physical ones that prevent people from working (like being a quadraplegic, I know deaf and paraplegic people who work as professionals, even a blind lady who does call centre work and a very nice chap with an IQ of about 65 who tidies at an airport) and mental sicknesses and illnesses that despite good English and computer skills prevent people from working.

Laziness is a personal choice and not an illness or disability.

I wasn't wrong about you, was I. :)

No you were right, I am honest ,intelligent and capable of logical argument whilst being totally unable to be politically correct. Just perfectly correct.

I am retired and very active and fit so not a liability. I'm on a guaranteed low income qualifying for full council tax support and LHA. Agents and landlords generally haven't a clue what that means. I offer 6 months rent in advance or 3 months with 2 month rolling rent in advance. Not acceptable!I have cash and savings and don't have credit cards and have no debts. I am the most reliable person I know who takes care of properties as if they're my own but the superior little demi God's won't entertain an enquiry from me unless a property that nobody wants to live in and they can't let. Any bright ideas?