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Landlords urged to bail out council as housing shortage worsens

Coventry council is the latest to appeal to private landlords to help it meet its housing obligations.

It wants to sign up landlords to its Let’s Rent Coventry campaign for either 12 to 24 months. Landlords receive a deposit covering up to five weeks rent and guaranteed rent thereafter.

The scheme has housed 55 families so far, all the local housing allowance rates since its launch in May 2020 with numerous landlords signed up.

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The council is in need of one to five bed units, furnished or unfurnished. Properties will be inspected and checked so that landlords have relevant certification.

Shannon Darcy-Bromell, accommodation officer in the council, says: “Once we help a customer find a new home, they are often relieved that they have found a home that is safe, comfortable and affordable.

“It’s very satisfying, because some families have been homeless or have been in temporary accommodation and want to start planning for the future. Being in a home that feels more permanent makes a big difference.”

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    Guaranteed rent thereafter!!! Get that contract checked by a solicitor. The bond paid by the council means the tenants have absolutely nothing to lose. Will need a refurb after the tenancy now that’s guaranteed

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    Its a good initiative by the Council to house people who are genuinely homeless or can’t afford the rent whom I have the greatest sympathy for and a dreadful situation to be in.
    The problem is there will be a big percentage milking the system in there as well, like I have seen with the food bank queues half a mile long, it is well known that at least half didn’t need it and only there for the freebies, as confirmed indeed by their own communities who knew them.

  • girish mehta

    The government and councils need to get their act together. On one hand they work against landlords say that all landlords are roughed. And expect them to spend vast of money building palaces for the tenants and not expect the return on investment.Now they want to take same risk and expect to let it to same tenants on below market rent. No guarantee that they will give the house in the same condition. When the tenants leave the property they make a paltry offer for damages

  • Theodor Cable

    Well said Girish.

  • Theodor Cable

    Well,

    I have considered the Council's offer and have come to one of four options.

    Here is a small Voting POLL:

    Answer 1: NO
    Answer 2: Absolutely NO
    Answer 3: Totally FU***** Never Ever
    Answer 4: You must think I am a complete nutter

    Please tick the answer which you think is my response.

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    Tenants supplied by councils will be tenants from hell and the property will be trashed , NO NO and NO again, they must think we fell off the Christmas tree .

    Peter  Yednell

    I have no direct experience but know other LL's who have had ur experience.. However, apparently there is a sudden demand for housing by Afghan refugees.. Most of whom are middle class & educated. I would consider letting to them via the council.. But not general council tenants albeit most council tenants are OK. The problem is a signigant minority of council tenants have zero respest for the interior of their homes nevermind the exterior.

     
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    Peter the council will cherry pick the better tenants for themselves and leave the private landlords with the rubbish

     
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    your Q&A's ought to go to Coventry Council Theo (-:

    Theodor Cable

    Good idea - I will send it to them another POLL:

    1: Will they read it? NO
    2: Can they read it? NO
    3: Will they understand it? NO
    4: Can they understand it? NO

    Send me your views

     
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    Around a decade ago, we made the HUGE mistake of agreeing to let our 2 x 2 bed apartments (with gardens) to tenants selected by the Council, with all the same promises as in the article above. Absolute nightmare!!! When tenants started moving in family members, pets and smoking dope, the Council did not want to know. Then one of the tenants actually stole the white goods - the Council did not want to know. The same tenants went on to be rehoused in council homes!!!! NEVER EVER AGAIN!

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    Why would anyone want to let at LHA rates, which are pretty much frozen, when there are plenty of tenants around & rents are rising fast? That's without considering whether you want to take the tenants that qualify for housing help.

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    They nearly caught me wanting to place a family a father and 4 children in a 3 bed Flat from Brent, Which would be over loaded for a start but that wasn’t an Issue with them ?.
    It turned out the guy who said he was from the Council was someone to get Tenants placed for the Council. The rent offer was high, when I got site of Contract it said once the Tenants were placed the Councils responsibility ended they were housed & I would be stuck with them. It also said the Tenant had agreed that the rent would be paid directly to me, however it also said that the Tenant was at liberty to apply to change that at anytime. How dishonest the Councils are or what morons they take us for.
    Where was their Mother and one of the teenagers had mental issues unfortunately but why should they become my liability, (not trust worthy).

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    I have sympathy for genuine LHA persons. Unfortunately experience has taught me that they few and far between. I have one LHA tenant and she works hard and is doing her best to keep herself and her family above water. If the Council could be more open with us and give us a chance to have a selection process, much as we do with our tenants, then we could make an informed decision. However, it would appear that we don't have a special relationship with the Council. We need to be closely monitored and that we pay an unreasonable tax in the form of licensing etc. Not only this but they see this as an easy occupation. It maybe for a small element of PL's whom have the money to pay professionals to do the work, but most of us have a vested interest and put in a considerable amount of time and effort into our property business.
    Therefore to those 55 PL's whom have let there properties to the Council I wish them the best of luck, as they will need it.

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    The council want landlords help?
    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

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    As a business decision, I would only do this with properties I bought that were at the bottom of the market and very basic interior - so that after 2 years of guaranteed rent, it wouldn’t bother me if it hadn’t been looked after. Also I’d require the council to cover all repairs before handing back. The fact they offer a 5 week bond, suggests that the landlord will own the risk associated with malicious damage and neglect by the tenant.

    Sounds harsh, but any landlord will tell you it’s the vulnerable tenants who are most likely to have drug problems, and associate with other violent people and often have only contempt for their landlord. This is why only the toughest most hard nosed landlords are prepared to deal with these tenants.

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    I suspect most Councils are in the same boat. As a licensed landlord down here in sunny Bournemouth, I'm on the Council's mailing list. Virtually every mailer includes a plea for housing. I did chuckle at the last one - one item on the email was the usual plea for housing, the next item was a bloodcurdling warning to get our houses in order re EPC C by 2025, with massive fines and penalties if not .... and even a suggestion that EPC B was on the cards for 2030! Not sure if they're intelligent enough to see the irony of that email.
    To add to the sentiment from others .... thanks, but no thanks.

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    I don’t know about sunny but certainly a few good hills, yes it stick & carrot system but mostly the stick for LL’s.

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    The ongoing pleas from local authorities to private rental sector landlords highlight the dearth of available social housing in the UK. This isn't something that's going to be solved for a decade or two by the build to rent sector, and is likely to get far worse over the next 5 years.
    Right now private landlords are rightly steering well away from this type of Tenancy; preferring the decency of an equal working business relationship provided by professional Tenants, who aren't filled with spiteful hatred, nor seek to exploit every legal and financial loophole to their benefit.
    There is a message here to those seeking to support the most vulnerable in society. The question is can they help improve UK housing stock by adopting a more nuanced approach, rather than continuing to view private Landlords through their current prism of jealous self-entitlement?

  • George Dawes

    The clash between the private and public sector continues

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    The housing problems could be solved permanently with a change in the law which would quickly change attitudes and save hundreds of millions to public purse. Simply stop people DESIGNING their lives to live off Benefits which is the root of the problem, even the millions young girls getting pregnant having babies to get housed in most cases having a partner unofficially behind the scenes contributing nothing & sometimes drawing himself / free loaders. Properly vet waiting lists and cut out the ones wanting to get housed for free without effort, even already milking the system to. There’s already huge numbers being housed that should be paying their way, but they are not stupid and never going pay while they can have it fo free.
    No you’ll never ever have enough with the current system it will just get worse, they are clamping down on the wrong people, which is not helping anyone not alone housing.

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    That's why I will not rent to young single mums, they expect everything for free, more trouble than they are worth

     
    Peter  Yednell

    It can depend.. I know a landlord who let to a single mum on benefits for 13 years.. Place was kept clean and rent paid.. Dosent always happen that way of course.. Caution should be applied.

     
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    I'm trying to sell my house now after being flayed alive by this government and its criminal-shielding eviction ban, spurred on by the unaccountable, glory-seeking busy-body burnham.
    If Councils need houses, perhaps they should offer to buy them.

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    You'll never have a deal with a council, 13 yrs ago I was selling a car repair workshop in Norwich, city council and Broadland Housing Assoc wanted to have a joint deal and build social housing there, they messed about, so I sold it to an engineering company they have put a huge steel building there which covers the whole site, how they got planning I don't know, but they did, the site would have been perfect for social housing 5 minute walk to city centre .

     
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    Every agent I've tried seems to be making a deliberate mess of marketing my house, always showing the least flattering pictures. Has it been known for agents to run down a property so that an associate can get it on the cheap? I believe they call it nepotism.

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    Chris. I haven’t found that to be honest its usually other way around. With wide angle lens they over do it, the customer thinks it massive and very disappointed when see it in reality. Watch out for Rent 2
    Rent many Agents work with them, they are quietly cornering to Market, never a mention on here not even a murmur.

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    I have a good local agent in Norwich, honest, no wide angle lens, and fair to both landlord and tenant, used them for over 20 yrs now.

     
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    Fair enough I’ll take it on the chin but I have seen a neighbours house for Sale that I know every inch of, blown out of all proportions hardly think it was the same house but seen plenty of others, no worries.

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    A lot of those estate agents are worse than car dealers

     
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