Property Hawk the landlord's homepage since 2006
Free Tenancy Agreement FREE tenancy agreement
Free Landlord Software FREE landlord software
Home | Property Manager | Free ASTs | Landlord Forms | Mortgages | Insurance | Inventory | Magazine | Landlords Bible | Directory | Forum | Training | News / Blog |

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Homelessness - landlords to be used

Grant Shapps has called on private landlords to be used to counter the problem of homeless families being shoved into 'temporary' accommodation for long periods whilst councils find suitable council property.

The proposals are being put forward as part of the Localism Bill.


Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements
Bookmark and Share

4 comments:

Paul Barrett said...

Is this bloke living in a dream world.
All a homeless family has to do is stop paying rent then it can take up to 6 months to get rid of the tenants plus there will be damages and theft most likely from the property.
If Shapps really wants landlords to help him then he needs to resolve the problems with getting rid of tenants.
Also any theft; damage from the property should be treated as a crime and the tenants arrested and prosecuted and and monies they have be paid back to landlord for losses the tenants have caused.
Also if no rent is paid then 14 days after the police should at the request of the landlord be able to remove the tenants.
Until these protocols are introduced no landlord in his right mind would assist Shapps with his problems!!
If the landlord has reasonable cause to suspect that tenancy obligations are not being met; such as damage and theft at the property then he should be able to gain access to the property with the assistance of the police if necessary.
I for one WILL not let anymore to tenants who fail a rent guarantee check.
I think having been ripped by tenants to the tune of £85000.00 is enough don't you!!?
Therefore until the law is in the favour of the landlord Shapps has got as much chance as landlords helping him as I have of becoming a millionaire(I do the lottery though!!)
If the landlords situation is thoroughly protected so that properties don't get repossessed whilst the pathetic court system grinds slowly on then I for one would be then happy to rent out to all sorts of tenants including Shapp's homeless.

Mick Roberts said...

Is Shapps on another planet? His own dept's are reducing the LHA on us Landlords that have bought properties for these tenants to rent, so he lowers the rent, then asks us if we will take more? Der.... Shapps & Cameron need to get on ground level & take a look what's going on. I have dozens of properties in Nottm with a 200 waiting list of LHA tenants & it is getting worse for them. The Govt have got nothing for them, so they outht to wake up & stop reducing the rent to the Private Landlord.

Anonymous said...

I have a terraced house that is too big for me at the moment. I wanted to rent it out for three years but the reduction in LHA makes it impossible as I have potentially six bedrooms but the maximum LHA will pay for is four. My local council has very large families (10-12 people) who desperately need a larger house and they have asked me to lease it to them so they can sublet it but why should my hard work subsidise someone else. I understand why there is a cap on rents - no taxpayer was happy to see people living in mansions at their expense but there is no flexibility to allow for larger families. I would be at least 400 pounds better off each month by renting privately even allowing for management costs. No encouragement to anyone to rent to families on the council waiting list.

Paul Barrett said...

Anonymous
Don't rent your house to LHA even on a long term lease.
I have heard horror stories about conditions properties were handed back to owners with no repairs etc carried out by the councul who are supposed to hand it back in the same or better condition.
Good in theory; doesn't happen in practice.
Avoid LHA like the plague; you should be able to find private tenants; not LHA or even a corporate let.
I would stronly advise you use tenantid and lrs to reduce the chances of getting a wrongun tenant.bulotid