Would you let this lady rent your land/stables?

Ouch, miaow.

To stop myself getting far too upset about this, I will just say I would hardly have been a credit to a workplace (an abused child fresh out of foster care attacking anything and everything). The two years of support have set me back on track, and I am training to be a nurse, along with various voluntary placements I do in my spare time. I'm not on income support anymore, and have just secured a contract as a research assistant for people with brain damage.

I am sorry I failed you.
 
My first reaction was to say 'yes' but then I thought about it. Each and every one of us have problems that life throws at us daily, why go looking for more of the buggers? Let her sort herself and her colt out-you owe her nothing and she could end up owing you a fortune. Let well alone, you'll find that there are enough problems with genuine horse peeps and their neds. M.
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The poor lady IS trying to sort things out for her colt - she answered an ad for grazing!

Maybe she lost her grazing through no fault of her own - maybe the owner of her grazing bought another pony and said sorry but I need the grazing and you'll have to go.

I cannot believe that there are so many snobby people out there, I am ashamed by your attitude. Some of you sound like you need to lose your job and get a taste of what it's like to be on benefit. Do remember too that when you are working you pay towards your own benefit every payday. Its just a government collected 'Loss of Income Insurance'. How many of you have claimed on your insurance in the past?????
I'm currently unemployed following a company reshuffle and I am not ashamed to collect benefit while I look for work. I've paid my taxes over the years and am fully entitled to collect.

Be a big person and give this lady a break. Find out about her situation; and only after make a judgement as to wether she will be suitable.

She may be the most lovely person who cares for her pony really well and would be prepared to babysit yours should you want to go away.

As the saying goes, 'Never judge a book by it's cover'
 
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I cannot believe that there are so many snobby people out there, I am ashamed by your attitude. Some of you sound like you need to lose your job and get a taste of what it's like to be on benefit. Do remember too that when you are working you pay towards your own benefit every payday. Its just a government collected 'Loss of Income Insurance'. How many of you have claimed on your insurance in the past?????


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Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. My mum suffered some mental breakdown and drink related issues when I was a kid right through my teenage years after my parents got divorced, my grandfather suffered through and died of stomach cancer/ grandma suffered some strokes (my mum had to care for both grandparents). Dad pissed off and did not pay any child support. Consequently, we had to live on benefits as my mum was mentally unfit for work. Getting benefits however, did not entitle me to get my own pony as I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted!!

Just couldn't afford it unless we stopped paying rent for our apartment (which in Canada, you pay for yourself out of your own money that you get- no cheap council houses there!).

So now I am on the other end of the scale, what most people would consider "posh" as I can now afford horses and ride, through sheer hard work with owning my own biz and working at my son's school. I have lived/live both lives and have no intention of living how I used to.

I think what is concerning most people is not the fact she lives in a council house or doesn't drive (I live in a council area and I don't drive either) but the fact is how is she going to pay for anything with no being in work? Benefits are to help people not live in poverty not pay for luxuries and benefits certainly wouldn't be enough to pay for a horse being gelded. My friend got her pony gelded last year and it was £200!

Plus there will be ongoing costs with the field rent, feed, vets, tack, hay, farrier and we all know how much those things cost. How in the world will benefits cover that?!!! Something will have to give- may be the rent will be "delayed" in being paid, pony will go without feed or hay, feet will end up not being trimmed...

I'm sure the owner does love the pony but I wonder if they have really added up whether they could afford it or not. Before I took Hattie on, I had to look at my books and finances to see if I could swing it and we just manage!

If she DOES have a large sum of money put aside and can afford all this, then that is between her and the council and DSS.

Having lived both lives, this situation doesn't seem right or "add up" literally!!
 
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Council, or social housing, is there to provide a safe shelter for people who need it. I'm afraid I agree with Mother Hen on this, if you can afford to buy/rent privately, do not have special aids and adaptations, then you should not be taking up part of an ever dwindling social housing stock. There are people living in woefully inadequate housing, becaue they cannot access social housing, because people remain in houses they do not have priority need for, or they have bought them from the council, who are forced to sell in certain circumstances.

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Sorry YorksG, but my parents bought their council house many many years ago.
They could not have afforded to buy one on the open market, in the area where my father had secured a job after leaving the airforce, and would have stayed in that house anyway, had they continued to rent, so no house was lost because they bought it.

Also, I am surprised that some people are still still ignorant about social housing. It is not subsidised, but is self funded on a not for profit basis.
Almost anybody can qualify for one of these houses, though there is such a social stigma attached to them, that many people would rather pay high private rent, than have people look down their noses at them, and wrongly accuse them of sponging off the tax payer.

To answer the OP, I would meet up with this peson face to face, and judge her on what you see - not on your pre-conceptions based on her social status.
 
Unless she manages her 1 acre very well, that's not a great amount of land for her. Plus the youngster needs company. And you may well find it easier to rent the whole thing as one unit, imagine if you rent to two people who don't get on.

On a tangent just to pick up on the second topic running on this thread.
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If your income is from DSS, then most landlords won't rent out to you, and council/housing association is the only place you can find accomodation.

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This is true by the way, I am a landlord and I will no longer rent to Housing Benefit tenants. Unfortunately the system is set up to make it very easy for unscrupulous HB tenants to exploit the sytem, pocket the first 8 weeks benefit for themselves and walk away (no point taking someone to court who has no money). I'm over £1,000 down because I thought it was only fair that everyone should be able to have somewhere nice to live, and rented to a lady on HB. This has not prejudiced me against all people on benefits or living in council houses, I recognise that the "bad" people are spoiling it for the "good", but I can't afford to take the risk again.
 
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On a tangent just to pick up on the second topic running on this thread.
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If your income is from DSS, then most landlords won't rent out to you, and council/housing association is the only place you can find accomodation.

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This is true by the way, I am a landlord and I will no longer rent to Housing Benefit tenants. Unfortunately the system is set up to make it very easy for unscrupulous HB tenants to exploit the sytem, pocket the first 8 weeks benefit for themselves and walk away (no point taking someone to court who has no money). I'm over £1,000 down because I thought it was only fair that everyone should be able to have somewhere nice to live, and rented to a lady on HB. This has not prejudiced me against all people on benefits or living in council houses, I recognise that the "bad" people are spoiling it for the "good", but I can't afford to take the risk again.

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On applying for HB you have to tick whether to have the HB paid to you to pay to landlord or paid directly to landlord.

Just a little bit of info for you there, if you decided to give someone else on DSS a chance, you could stipulate that the money had to be paid directly from HB to you.

Not everyone on DSS is bad, scum or unreliable
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Nope, you're wrong, it depends on the council. Where my flat is they will only pay direct to the landlord after the first 8 weeks.
My tenant not only kept the first 8 weeks rent - which had to be paid direct to her - she was supposed to pay a top-up each month because she chose to live in a 2 bedroomed flat, she didn't pay the top-up at all. Actually, she p'd off owing me much more than £1,000, but luckily I didn't have to evict her, she just handed in her keys. Moving on to the next money-making opportunity I expect.
Have a read of a landlord's forum sometime, it makes grim reading for people on benefits, and all because some abuse the system and their landlord's trust.
Here you go, she had to get 8 weeks in arrears before I could divert the money. http://www.stockton.gov.uk/citizenservices/billsbenefits/31134/lha/payinglha/
p.s. you need to read what I said again if you think I am saying that all people on benefits are scum or unreliable. I said exactly the opposite, they aren't. I am talking about financial reality, I can't afford to subsidise tenants.
 
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She doesn't drive and doesn't work.


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If she doesn't work, how is she going to pay you? How is she going to pay to get her horse gelded? How is she going to pay for it's feed, shoeing, hay, shavings, vets bills? The cart??!!
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Last time I checked my bank balance, the horses took most of it and my husband and I both work!!

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Have you considered that she might be retired - grand children are mentioned?

She may very well have had insurance through her working life that has now matured and she has enough to keep the horse.

Everyone is judging this person purely because she lives in a council house.

Would you be judging her so harshly if she lived in a private house and didn't drive or work? No!!
 
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On a tangent just to pick up on the second topic running on this thread.
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If your income is from DSS, then most landlords won't rent out to you, and council/housing association is the only place you can find accomodation.

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This is true by the way, I am a landlord and I will no longer rent to Housing Benefit tenants. Unfortunately the system is set up to make it very easy for unscrupulous HB tenants to exploit the sytem, pocket the first 8 weeks benefit for themselves and walk away (no point taking someone to court who has no money). I'm over £1,000 down because I thought it was only fair that everyone should be able to have somewhere nice to live, and rented to a lady on HB. This has not prejudiced me against all people on benefits or living in council houses, I recognise that the "bad" people are spoiling it for the "good", but I can't afford to take the risk again.

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You can arrange for the rent to be deducted from the benefit at source - that is how my brother paid his rent when he was younger and on benefit.
 
In later post I put a link to the relevant section on Housing Benefit from the council where my flat is. I did that to prove that what I am saying is 100% correct in that area (Stockton on Tees). In that area you cannot get the rent paid to the landlord direct until the tenant has been in arrears for 8 weeks. Believe me, that is one reason why many landlords will not rent to HB tenants, they know this is the case in many areas of the country, and don't even consider it. (Notorious unreliablity is another, and the fact that if the tenants do the dirty on you then you have no chance of getting any financial compensation).
I don't know why everyone is concentrating so hard on the ins and outs of this woman's possible income. Is it practical to split up a small 2.5 acre plot and hope to rent to two people? Leaving this lady to manage just one acre year-round for her horse? I don't think I'd do it, I'd let the whole as one unit.
 
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