Demand for DSS properties across the UK is soaring, as the bedroom tax takes its toll and tenants feel their pockets pinched by escalating energy bills and rising food prices.
Dssmove.co.uk has seen an increase in searches for DSS properties over the last six months. According to the firm, still many searches do not return a property available for DSS tenants, as there is a shortage of DSS properties across major cities in the UK, including Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. There remains a chronic shortage of DSS properties in London.
This surge in demand is encouraging landlords to take on DSS tenants, many of whom have experience with this sector of the market. However, there are a growing number of landlords who are taking on DSS tenants without understanding how to deal with them.
Aki Ellahi believes landlords need to get their house in order, or they will suffer the consequences:
“It is vital that landlords educate themselves with the requirements for DSS tenants. With this knowledge, they can run a very successful tenancy. But without the right know how, landlords could in the worst case scenario, lose money.
Firstly landlords need to understand the housing benefit system and the payment cycle. i.e. for LHA do councils pay tenants 2 weekly, 4 weekly or calendar monthly? There is no point giving a tenancy agreement that demands a payment on different dates. For example Wolverhampton Council pay tenants fortnightly on a Monday, so for my properties, I only ever issue weekly tenancies and they procure/end on housing benefit payment dates.
I have currently 500 tenants on benefits and achieve a rent collection record of 100%. I would not be able to achieve this level of success without the use of Credit Unions. Using such organisations to collect housing benefit and pay this across to me as the landlord, or to the managing agents, is very convenient.
My experience over the years has shown me that tenants do not want the hassle of dealing with housing benefit and they want the convenience of it being sorted for them. Although they understand that they need to apply for housing benefit, they prefer if the landlord or an agent, who can assist them with doing this on their behalf, as this has been the case for as long as I remember.
The temptation to spend housing benefit can be far too great for tenants and you often find them falling into a debt trap by using housing benefit payments for living costs on a short term basis – ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’. So by landlords helping tenants to avoid this temptation and providing the rent is affordable, this is sound reason for a long and secure tenancy to be enjoyed by both parties.”
Dssmove.co.uk is a property portal, open to both landlords & letting agents and is free of charge. Dssmove.co.uk works with over 500 landlord and lettings agents nationwide and has over 5,000 properties on its site. The site also has over 60,000 visitors a month.
