No DSS.....give me a hand!!!?

Er, if you get help with rent and are dss you do rely on benefits!?! There are plenty of people who will take you on but not main stream renters or lettings agent. It is stupid as your rent will be paid by the government and the government are the most reliable payers ever. You need to get advice from your local housing office who will put you in touch with people who will take you on. They won't be as nice or probably even furnished but you will find something as a lot of smart investors specialise in this type of property. This is how Duncan bynatyne made most of his money. Buying run down houses, White washing them and renting them to dss who always pay on time, and the government will pay over the odds as no one else will take them on. Go speak to your housing office.

You a stuck in that you need housing benefit to be able to afford to rent and the fact that the majority of landlords will not even consider renting to you because of this.

Some landlords will but they are often the other end of the market and rent via newspapers and corner shops.

Some landlords may reconsider if you can put up a larger deposit that will cover more than the standard one months as an act of faith.

I used to work for an estate agent, so I feel your pain. I could never understand why landlords said 'No DSS' because you are more likely to be able to pay the rent, as Housing Benefit is virtually guaranteed! However, they do, presumably because they think you're unemployed and will laze around all day, watching Jeremy Kyle and getting drunk (and of course some tenants do).

These days Housing Benefit is not paid direct to the landlord, but comes direct to the tenant, who then has the responsibility to pay the rent. You could say that you don't receive any - the landlord won't know if you get paid this way. However if you have a credit check before you are accepted to rent, it may come out that you can't afford it without help. It's hard - my son is in the same position as you so I sympathise.

but you DO rely on benefits, you get housing benefit and off course child benefit which everyone gets

maybe you even get tax credits, which you should get, if you are on a low income

Remember to rent privately you will need £1,000 or more depending on where you live in the UK

My son has just moved into a 2 bed flat and needed over £1,000 for -

deposit, one months rent, admin fees and credit check

The landlord or agency will do a credit check on you all,

and then he will decide whether he will rent to you or not

Remember also you have to get the flat first, then apply for h/b, not the other way around, sadly

by all means approach a few agencies and they will tell you all you need to know

I work in a letting agent, and unfortunately we would never let you rent one of our properties.

Our landlords would rather lose a months rent than let out to a liability. It's not worth the risk of having the house trashed or worse.

As mentioned above speak to the council/housing office. It might not seem fair but people work very hard to buy rental properties and having an episode of Jeremy Kyle filmed in the living room isn't fair on those who do work hard just to have their houses trashed.