Has anyone ever come across a LL trying to scam HAP

pinkyeye

Hi all,

Looking for some advice here. My daughter is looking to rent a place and she has been granted homeless HAP.

She viewed a place yesterday and he checked her references and rang today to say he's willing to offer it to her and asked if she would send over the HAP forms by email and he would send them in?

She's wary that this is a scam because she's getting a bad feeling from him but I'm failing to see how a LL could scam HAP? They have to prove to HAP that they own the property don't they?

Any advice?

Dav010

LLs do have to provide a lot of info, including a tax compliance certificate in order to qualify to accept HAP tenants. I’m not sure your daughter appreciates how difficult and rare it is to find a LL who willingly accepts HAP, and, as it is paid in arrears, any delay in getting approval means she has to pay the rent during that time. The fact the LL chose her possibly over private tenants and isn’t delaying sorting the paperwork for her means, if it’s a nice property, she is very lucky indeed, I wouldn’t delay too long.

pinkyeye

Dav010 wrote: »

LLs do have to provide a lot of info, including a tax compliance certificate in order to qualify to accept HAP tenants. I’m not sure your daughter appreciates how difficult and rare it is to find a LL who willingly accepts HAP, and, as it is paid in arrears, any delay in getting approval means she has to pay the rent during that time. The fact the LL chose her possibly over private tenants and isn’t delaying sorting the paperwork for her means, if it’s a nice property, she is very lucky indeed, I wouldn’t delay too long.

She does realise that of course.

But a couple of points:

1. Homeless HAP is paid up front including two months deposit so there's a huge advantage there.

2. It's a tiny 2 bedroom apartment for 2k a month so it's no bargain.

I see where you're coming from and I'm encouraging her to go for it but at the same time just investigating if there is a possibility of a scam.

For example she will have to put some money to the deposit and rent herself so what if he asks her for her contribution upfront and then fecks off?

She would be devastated if this happened so I don't want to see her reach the depths of despair she has been in again.

At the same time I don't want her to miss a chance to have her own place either.

Dav010

If your daughter is relying on HAP to pay deposit and rent up front, then the forms need to be completed without delay. She cannot move in without paying deposit/rent, and the LL wants a tenant/rent as soon as possible.

To be honest, unless your daughter has reason to be suspicious, I can’t see why the landlord would act any other way than to get forms signed off ASAP. Ask for a LPT receipt to prove ownership.

WeeCuppaCha

I accepted HAP from previous tenants. Frim memory, the tenant returned the completed form to the council with necessary documentation from me. Maybe your daughter can find a way to be the one who is responsible for returning the paperwork after the LL has competed their section? Tell the LL the council have requested she attend an interview where she needs to bring the paperwork with her.

pinkyeye

Dav010 wrote: »

If your daughter is relying on HAP to pay deposit and rent up front, then the forms need to be completed without delay. She cannot move in without paying deposit/rent, and the LL wants a tenant/rent as soon as possible.

To be honest, unless your daughter has reason to be suspicious, I can’t see why the landlord would act any other way than to get forms signed off ASAP. Ask for a LPT receipt to prove ownership.

Yeah good idea, I think she's half afraid to ask him because she doesn't want to mess up the chance.

What I've said to her is to tell him she has to bring all the forms into the homeless HAP section herself so if he fills them in she'll head in straight away.

pinkyeye

WeeCuppaCha wrote: »

I accepted HAP from previous tenants. Frim memory, the tenant returned the completed form to the council with necessary documentation from me. Maybe your daughter can find a way to be the one who is responsible for returning the paperwork after the LL has competed their section? Tell the LL the council have requested she attend an interview where she needs to bring the paperwork with her.

That's what I would have thought too.

Now maybe he only wants the form to fill in his part of it and then he'll give it back to her.

I think she's confused because she's never done anything like this and she's not used to paperwork.

I don't want to ring him myself because it might look she's an idiot who has to get her mammy to do things for her.

If your previous HAP tenant had to pay a share of the deposit/1st month upfront do you remember when you requested that amount?

WeeCuppaCha

In my case, the tenant was responsible for the deposit. It seems it’s a different system for homeless HAP.

The tenant is notified by the council what their rent payable is, which I had my tenant pay by weekly standing order. The council pays their share monthly. As someone else mentioned, rent was paid in arrears.

WeeCuppaCha

I requested and received the deposit before paperwork for HAP was completed.

As a LL you need some assurance that the tenant is serious about taking in the tenancy and particularly before turning other potential tenants away. I knew that this tenant would receive HAP as she was a single parent previously on rent allowance with no change in circumstances.

The wait for rent was not ideal but once it was up and running it all worked out ok and was a guaranteed payment from the council each month.

Meathman12

If you're concerned about ownership you could visit landdirect.ie and check name on dead. I think there's a very small cost. Or visit the land registry offivr

Saudades

pinkyeye wrote: »

She viewed a place yesterday and he checked her references and rang today to say he's willing to offer it to her and asked if she would send over the HAP forms by email and he would send them in?

The HAP application form has two separate sections; one for the tenant and one for the landlord.

The landlord can send their completed section directly back to the city council office if they want. I guess they may not want their tenants knowing their tax ref number or home address or any other of the private details.

Of course the city council office will only process your application once they have received both sections.

Eric Cartman

pinkyeye wrote: »

Yeah good idea, I think she's half afraid to ask him because she doesn't want to mess up the chance.

What I've said to her is to tell him she has to bring all the forms into the homeless HAP section herself so if he fills them in she'll head in straight away.

landlords have to hand over a lot of personal info that they wouldnt in their right mind reveal to your daughter, let him fill the forms, if he's 'scamming' anyone (which i severely doubt) then it means he's registered and should be easy to find.

pinkyeye

Saudades wrote: »

The HAP application form has two separate sections; one for the tenant and one for the landlord.

The landlord can send their completed section directly back to the city council office if they want. I guess they may not want their tenants knowing their tax ref number or home address or any other of the private details.

Of course the city council office will only process your application once they have received both sections.

Ah that makes sense so. Thanks for that.

sk8board

I’m a LL who had just been through the process with a tenant.
As others have said, there’s a LOT of documentation required:
- proof of home ownership
- proof of LPT paid
- proof of RTB registration
- tax clearance cert
- proof of rental bank a/c ownership
- home inspection

Any LL accepting HAP is guaranteed to have a very clean nose!

To correct someone above, rent is absolutely not paid in advance with up to two months deposit - certainly not in Dublin anyway. It’s paid in arrears (more of a pain than you would think) and the tenant is expected to pay the deposit and first month, which they might get back - the council call the LL to confirm if the deposit is paid (I said yes), and also asked if the months rent was paid (I also said no) - both were then paid, but I understand the deposit came from some other agency.
However - for me it took until rental month 3 to get paid by the council as there is a 6-8week wait for HAP applications to get processed.
We applied for HAP on April 10th (form was stamped as received that day), the Tenant moved in May 1st, and I got the first payment from HAP July 28th.

It was a very frustrating process to be honest.