Housing benefit is just the former name for the new version called Local Housing Allowance (LHA). They are much the same as each other but with slight variations.
Local Housing Allowance or Housing Benefit are two of several ways landlords choose to rent out their properties. They are favoured by landlords because they can be quite lucrative if approached correctly.
For landlords looking to make more money by finding the most lucrative tenants, using the Optimised LHA System from HousingBenefitHelpline is a very powerful resource.
Higher Rents + Less Voids + No Finder's Fees = more profits!
Anyone that has had to go through the process of trying to secure Housing Benefit knows that if it goes wrong, it can have very expensive consequences.
For example, if one of your tenants was previously working and is now facing redundancy (a scenario which is unfortunately becoming more common during this recession) they will need to claim Housing Benefit. However, if the benefit office rejects their claim, they will probably be forced to seek alternative housing, leaving you with a plethora of potential problems.
Firstly, if the tenant seeks help from the Citizens Advice Bureau or Shelter, etc, they will be informed that to become eligible for emergency housing and benefits they will need to be facing eviction.
Unfortunately the best way for them to achieve this is to remain in your property without paying the rent, until you apply to the courts to have them evicted. As you know, this process takes several months meaning your once reliable tenant is now going to cost you several thousands of pounds in:
Rent arrears
Court fees
Solicitor's fees
Bailiff's fees
New locks and refurbishment
On average you won't see a lot of change from GBP 10,000-12,000 (including refurbishment). Not forgetting, of course, the fees you will pay to the letting agent for finding the new tenant. All in all a very costly process!
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