RA question

curadh

Posting here because have given up trying to contact welfare officers /HSE personnel , capable of having a conversation to anyone who hasnt been in a queue..disgraceful.
Usually with a tenant you take a months rent and a deposit upfront. If you take on a person in receipt of rent allowance, you are given a deposit, but only receive the rent for the month at the end of each month, so it is not paid in advance. My question is this - if someones moving out or has been evicted, and that cheque at the end of the month does not come through, it leaves a landlord in a bad position ie short a deposit to cover damages. So how do the government cover this?

D3PO

curadh wrote: »

Posting here because have given up trying to contact welfare officers /HSE personnel , capable of having a conversation to anyone who hasnt been in a queue..disgraceful.
Usually with a tenant you take a months rent and a deposit upfront. If you take on a person in receipt of rent allowance, you are given a deposit, but only receive the rent for the month at the end of each month, so it is not paid in advance. My question is this - if someones moving out or has been evicted, and that cheque at the end of the month does not come through, it leaves a landlord in a bad position ie short a deposit to cover damages. So how do the government cover this?

they dont. Hense why many people dont want to take RA. But of course many on here believe if you dont take RA tennants its because your 100% a tax dodger :rolleyes::rolleyes:

ricman

If you r worried about losing rent,dont take ra tenants,they have to pay a deposit like any other tenant.Theres also a long term rental scheme run by local councils, its different then ra.
its not the welfare officers job,to speak to a landlord,they cant give you info cos of data protection act,so unless you want to tell em joe bloggs has moved out, please stop the rent allowance payments, theres no point in talking to them .IF you think a tenant is signing on from your adress without your consent, go to the welfare office,dole office ,receptionist.
I KNOW many landlords take single mothers , as tenants cos its a easy way to get a house rent,if you are not in a posh area.
you can ring em up,and avoid the queue,s if necessary.

curadh

Thanks for the replies, D3PO yes thats the problem unfortunately, no cover.
ricman I only wanted a simple explanation from somebody at the welfare office on this issue, not on anyone in particular, if they don't get paid to explain what they are doing, by any chance do you know who does, and I can contact them instead?

ricman

All the info they can give you ,is a, is rent allowance being paid for your adress,is social welfare being paid to someone at your adress, they are under the control of the data protection act,if your tenant is living down the road, they could not tell you.
rent allowance is paid to the tenant, not to the landlord, you can inform welfare officer for your area,eg santry north, joe bloggs is no longer living here.
there is no system to refund landlords on the ra system.
i do not want to be rude ,no one forces you to accept ra tenants,its a free market.
SIMPLY ,PUT tenant gone, the last months rent is gone,i assume you have the deposit .
most tenants pay the rent at the end of a month, if you are renting a house.

edellc

curadh wrote: »

Posting here because have given up trying to contact welfare officers /HSE personnel , capable of having a conversation to anyone who hasnt been in a queue..disgraceful.
Usually with a tenant you take a months rent and a deposit upfront. If you take on a person in receipt of rent allowance, you are given a deposit, but only receive the rent for the month at the end of each month, so it is not paid in advance. My question is this - if someones moving out or has been evicted, and that cheque at the end of the month does not come through, it leaves a landlord in a bad position ie short a deposit to cover damages. So how do the government cover this?

As with any tenant you give a months rent and a deposit up front its no different if you are RA or not and for to imply that it is, is bull**** i have found myself on RA this year and when i moved in March had to give LL months rent and deposit up front so when i get my rent allowance i am paying for the up coming month and not the one that has just passed
typical landlord point of view :mad:

curadh

I'm not sure if I have phrased something wrong somewhere or whatever, I was simply looking to know how the government can cover the landlord in the case of damages beyond wear and tear to a place.

This post has nothing to do with accepting or rejecting people who may need RA.

@ ricman - "most tenants pay the rent at the end of a month, if you are renting a house" -This is simply not true. Thank you for your reply but it doesnt address my question.

@edellc - I think you have misunderstood me somewhere. With the rent allowance, in my experience, landlord receives a cheque initially from the government, equal to one months rent(or equal to deposit, depends how you look at it), so this covers the months rent in advance, and should the person vacate, then no problem. However if they have caused damages, these must be covered by a deposit of some sort, but if the cheque at the end of the month doesnt happen, please tell me how this could be covered?

edellc

@edellc - I think you have misunderstood me somewhere. With the rent allowance, in my experience, landlord receives a cheque initially from the government, equal to one months rent(or equal to deposit, depends how you look at it), so this covers the months rent in advance, and should the person vacate, then no problem. However if they have caused damages, these must be covered by a deposit of some sort, but if the cheque at the end of the month doesnt happen, please tell me how this could be covered?[/QUOTE]

Okay then so im my circumstances i have paid one months rent in advance and the welfare paid the deposit so at the end of each month i am paying for the next month rent not the one that has passed
going by your description ie deposit covering unpaid rent so therefore what monies are left for damage caused i do see your point because in your scenario there isnt any money left to do this...that is why weather rent allowance or not a tenant should be paying months rent and deposit together at beginning of tenancy
however you do have some come back if you got id off tenant when agreement came into place you as a LL like any tenant can go to the PRTB and file a complaint against said tenant to pay for damage caused....the government will do nothing for you.....with the PRTB it can take months to get a resolution but this is the same as if you where a tenant and LL refused to give you back a deposit this is the only official body within Ireland that deals with rental accommodation we do not have laws in place to protect tenant or LL from each other it is at the end of the day all about trust

D3PO

curadh wrote: »

I'm not sure if I have phrased something wrong somewhere or whatever, I was simply looking to know how the government can cover the landlord in the case of damages beyond wear and tear to a place.

no Ricman always just goes off in a tanget with complete random stuff not related to the question

shoegirl

System is messy really.

1. Tenants get paid in arrears (in a sense reasonable as all other welfare payments are paid in arrears), causing possible problems for saving deposits and rent in advance on a small income (given that the average monthly rent for a unit is 800, which is the equivalent of about 1.5 weeks pay after tax for an "average" earner on 37k per annum - in the same terms a single tenant even on the 196 a week rate living in say Cork on max RA would have to put the equivalent of nearly 5 weeks welfare up front)
2. Landlords don't have the security as the rent is paid to the tenant by default
3. Even if they do request to be paid directly they still have a differential of about 25 euro a week to collect from the tenant

Surely it would make more sense (and remove the illusion of "money for nothing") if the tenant's contribution was deducted from their weekly payment and potentially paid to the landlord, thus saving the payment from having to come from 2 welfare sources?

Just a small suggestion really. The system is unfavourable for both parties.

ricman

I think the reason they set up the prtb is to resolve disputes between landlord and tenant ,whether the prtb is effective is another question.

curadh

Just to update whats happened with this. Took a rent allowance tenant on, after an initial misunderstanding about paying a deposit upfront which I had no option but to let go, two and a half months on I have not been paid a single penny. Firstly it was social welfare will pay it the last monday of the month, then it was they must be behind. It has still not gone through, and unless the tenant is fiddling, then I feel sorry for them because I have no option but to evict. Would never consider a rent allowance tenant again.

convert

curadh wrote: »

Just to update whats happened with this. Took a rent allowance tenant on, after an initial misunderstanding about paying a deposit upfront which I had no option but to let go, two and a half months on I have not been paid a single penny. Firstly it was social welfare will pay it the last monday of the month, then it was they must be behind. It has still not gone through, and unless the tenant is fiddling, then I feel sorry for them because I have no option but to evict. Would never consider a rent allowance tenant again.

This is the precise reason why so many landlords refuse to take RA tenants, regardless of their situation. While there are reliable RA tenants out there, it's people like those mentioned on this fourm who screw it up for the rest.

As far as I know, you have to give the tenant 14 days notice to pay the arrears before you can give them notice to leave the accommodation. Very messy.

You could try contact the Social Welfare Office and ask if they're really far behind as your tenant still hasn't received any payments after two and a half months.