tenant on rent allowance

[visegradi]

I have a house rented out to a woman and her child for the past 2 years. she is on rent allowance. Brilliant tenant and she is a really nice person. She told me that the social welfare have contacted her and asked her to move to a local council estate. She must give them an answer in the next two weeks. She has asked to see the house but they say they can't show her until she is moving in. Her son does not want to move. He is young and said that is the place were the bullies live. When the council owns these houses it is alot cheaper for them to get people living in them rather than paying me rent every month. I don't mind dropping the rent. Anyone know what approach should be taken ?

 

[Papercut]

If she refuses an offer of local authority housing three times within a certain amount of time she could lose her rent supplement altogether, so this may be what she is worrying about.

Have you had a look at the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS)? It’s more of a long term scheme but arrangements for existing tenants can be put in place for shorter periods, & the landlord gets paid the full rent directly from the local authority. All the local authorities do it – here’s a link from Dublin City Council website [broken link removed] & Citizen's Info http://www.citizensinformation.ie/ca...odation-scheme

The rent you receive could be slightly less than the going rate as you are guaranteed payment, but considering that you are prepared to drop it anyway, plus the fact that you are happy with her as a tenant, it might be worth considering it as an option.

 

[visegradi]

I don't mind dropping the rent. If I went to RAS do you think they would allow me to sign up and keep her as a tenant ?

 

[Papercut]

The only person who can really answer that question is your local authority. It's certainly worth looking into. You should check out their website & contact them, though you should speak to your tenant first to make sure that she would be prepared to stay if you could sort it out.