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| DSS Tenants – The Way to Rent Out Your Property? |
| by: Chris Courtis |
With so many rental properties available in the market do landlords now need to be flexible in who they rent their property to. Before the demand for a good rental property meant that landlords could pick and choose the tenants for their property. However with the number of properties on the market increasing it is becoming increasingly difficult to rent out your property. Once a DSS tenant would be held in disregard, however maybe this is an option that should be open to consideration. Often a DSS tenant can be a single mother, a person who is classed as homeless and looking to get back on their feet. There is as much chance that this person will treat a house as their home as much as a private rental tenant. Not all letting agents will accept people on DSS onto their books but there are agents that do. Also letting agents that are approved may well have a close working relationship with the council and will get leads of tenants who are looking for property. The approved agents will be familiar with the official process involved with arranging a tenancy of a property with a DSS tenant. Also an approved letting agent will have a list of property that is suitable and already agreed upon by the landlord. What are the benefits of a DSS tenant to the landlord? To the landlord a usual period of time that a tenancy will be 1 year minimum, the usual period for a private tenant would be a minimum of 6 months. The tenants are refered by the council and receiving benefit and It can be suggested if there are serious problems this can be taken up with the council directly via the letting agent. You as a landlord are guaranteed to receive your rental payments, particularly if the tenant is in receipt of the full housing benefit entitlement. On some occasions the tenant may be required to make a pre-arranged contribution to the rent if the value of the property is above their entitlement, this is something to watch out for. DSS – The Process A DSS tenant will usually have a slightly different process to that of a private rental. Firstly, the viewing is conducted as usual, if the tenant likes and wants to take the property then a Pre Tenancy Determination form needs to be filled in with the agents details or landlord details (as applicable), the rental value of the property, number of rooms and other details about the property. The tenant completes their details into the form and then presents this to their housing officer. The council will then determine the house value and the situation of the person requiring the rent and make a rental offer. Once this has been received and accepted on both sides then the usual tenancy agreement is drawn up and the contract with the council who will then arrange to either pay the money into the letting agents/landlords bank account direct or via cheque in 4 weekly cycles. Ultimately the choice of whether the landlord of the property would accept housing benefit would be theirs. There are real benefits to be had by doing this and it is an option that should be carefully considered. Rentright Property Rental Portal displays a symbol with ‘DSS’ written in it for property that is available from a letting agent that accepts housing benefit and a property that is available for housing benefit, look out for these against property on Rentright Chris Courtis is the co-founder of Rentright Residential Rental Property Portal which is dedicated to rental property and advertising property for letting agents throughout the UK. |
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