No landlords will take rent allowance

ChristOnABike

Hi
Im going to need to rent a place soon,Im on disability because of an accident and will be for the next six months or so.

Everywhere i look its the same story "no rent allowance accepted"This is getting a bit worrying because i dont know what im going to do.

My question is can i get rent allowance without letting the landlord know?,how does it work,because ive always just paid my rent before and never gotten any payments.

zaphod_ie

Ring them up. Find out where the place is and then report them. They don't want rent allowance cause they are more than likely avoiding tax.

Kinetic^

zaphod_ie wrote:

Ring them up. Find out where the place is and then report them. They don't want rent allowance cause they are more than likely avoiding tax.

:rolleyes: What a silly thing to say. I'd several friends who did accept the rent allowance but when the tenant got cut off they were left without rent. It's unwanted hassle that the landlord doesn't want. The don't accept it anymore and they are not avoiding tax.

zaphod_ie

ok, I may have read this wrong, is rent allowance a payment from the state to help with rent? I think i may have been mixing it up with rent relief where you get more tax credits if renting. Apologies. Should really have read the whole post before replying

Kinetic^

Aye you got it mixed up. OP will be receiving rent allownace from the govt. I do feel for you OP, but it's the same old story in Ireland, a few have ruined it for the masses.

The_Conductor

OP- do you have references from previous landlords- or anything that might put a landlords mind at rest?

At the moment there is in a lot of places a shortage of rental property (and conversely a glut of property for sale), so landlords are pretty much in a position to pick and choose tenants as they will.

As others have pointed out above, unfortunately a few people on rent-allowance have spoilt a lot of things for others......

Victor

I understand www.daft.ie has a filter for properties accepting rent allowance. I tried finding it yesterday, but couldn't.

ChristOnABike

the kind of payment im talking about is where you get a a percentage towards your rent,i dont remember if its called relief or allowance.

Does anyone know if its paid to the landlord or to you directly?
And it looks like ill even have to go so far as to sign the landlords name on the forms myself,Do they ask for his/her pps number etc?
At this stage,Its either try things like this or end up in a bad way

loyatemu

its rent allowance and its paid directly to the landlord, and you're not allowed to top it up yourself (though some people top it up by paying the landlord extra under the counter).

Many landlords don't accept it either because they think they're more likely to get problem tenants, or because they're avoiding tax and don't want to appear on the system.

foxy06

You can top it up yourself if you have the means to do so. For example if you are a single parent with one child you can rent a place up to 950 a month (any more than that you get nothing) two children it goes up to 1200 a month and you recieve a means tested payment (means would be maintenence or part time income or single parent benefit) .
OP I recommend you try as many places as possible and don't say anything about the rent allowance until you meet them for a viewing. Then say to them "You don't mind accepting part of the payment in rent allowance do you?" You can have the payment posted to you in a cheque or lodged into your or your landlords bank account.
You are better off looking for places direct through the landlord as the agencies wont even give you the time of day and when you meet the landlord win them over with your charm!

Kinetic^

Don't do what Foxy says and waste the person's time :rolleyes: If he doesn't want rent allowance, he doesn't want it.

foxy06

I think I should have been clearer Kenny. If the ad says RENT ALLOWANCE NOT ACCEPTED then forget about it but it sometimes doesn't mention Rent allowance at all and thats who he should be calling. It very rarely says Rent allowance accepted and these places are usually snapped up quickly but when you are in the position of possibly becoming homeless you will try anything to get accomodation.

Kinetic^

Aye cool, misunderstanding foxy. Apology and such accepted......I suppose!!!

lostexpectation

ChristOnABike wrote:

Hi
Im going to need to rent a place soon,Im on disability because of an accident and will be for the next six months or so.

Everywhere i look its the same story "no rent allowance accepted"This is getting a bit worrying because i dont know what im going to do.

My question is can i get rent allowance without letting the landlord know?,how does it work,because ive always just paid my rent before and never gotten any payments.

http://threshold.daft.ie/ is the filter

well call it an temporary injury of thats the case, perhaps you have to say if you going to back working in job in 6 months for defo or or most probably...

I think you should try and talk to some of the lanlords and don't be ashamed of wasting their time its them that are being difficult.

Victor

loyatemu wrote:

its rent allowance and its paid directly to the landlord

No its isn't. Its is paid weekly to the tenant.

foxy06 wrote:

You can top it up yourself if you have the means to do so.

Rent allowance is about 90% of the rent. Maximum rents are set. You aren't allowed "top it up".

foxy06

Victor wrote:

No its isn't. Its is paid weekly to the tenant.

Rent allowance is about 90% of the rent. Maximum rents are set. You aren't allowed "top it up".

When I say top up I mean you pay what you can and the hse pay the rest. If you have no income other than dole or other social welfare payment you could get more than 90% and if you have other sources of income (Other than Full time work in which case no payment will be made) you are means assesed on this and you "top up" by paying the rest yourself. I also said in my postthat there is a maximum payment.

For example if you are a single parent with one child you can rent a place up to 950 a month (any more than that you get nothing)

It can also be paid weekly or monthly direct to the landlord at the tenants request and some landlords insist on this.

Cutie18Ireland

My mam is renting a place and is on disability, but when she was looking alot of places said no to rent allowance but with alot of them when she explained that it was because they wouldnt let her back to work they were more willing to let her rent. Sometimes it makes a difference.
Here they would only allow €700 as rent allowance (with 2 children) so she has to fund the other €200 herself.
She was in hospital for a period of time and requested that the rent allowance be paid directly to the landlord which was no problem and then they just sent her a reciept of the payment made.
Oh she also dealt with a couple of agencies who were helpful and they kept her on a list for any that came up and explained the fact that it was for a disability made a big difference.

yabadabado

go on to the welfare.ie website ,section there deals with it or go to your local social welfare office and they will have contact no's for you.