Housing Associations / Marketing

Your Questions Answered

Summary

This series of questions and answers about a Private Sector Leasing Scheme could be useful information to include with an information pack sent out to private landlords who are thinking about leasing out their property but want more information about the scheme. Alternatively it could be useful to put onto a website so that landlords and others can see what a leasing scheme is and have some of their questions answered.    

Further Information

Your Questions Answered

What is a Private Sector Leasing Scheme?

The Scheme is essentially a three-way partnership between the private sector, a housing association and the local authority. The owners of empty properties provide the homes, the housing association provides the housing management and day-to-day repairs and maintenance and the local authority provides the tenants.

What rent is charged on the properties?     

The rent is set by the housing association, is charged weekly, and is collected by the housing association.

What is the benefit to the owner of the property?
 
The leases run for a period from between one year and six years. During that time the owner will receive the rent paid monthly. The rent paid to the owner will be reviewed on the anniversary of the date the lease was taken out and adjusted upwards by reference to any percentage change in the Retail Prices Index. The owner will be paid regardless of whether the property is occupied or not.

The owner will not be responsible for any housing management for the duration of the lease and will not be required to have any dealings with the occupiers of the property.

NB The owner may require the permission of his or her mortgage lender in order to participate in the Scheme.

Are there any costs for the owner of the property?

The owner is not charged any fees during the lease period. However there may be some additional costs involved if the property does not meet the local authority’s minimum standards and requires work to be carried out prior to leasing. In addition, there are some repair obligations that remain with the owner (see the Summary of Repairing Liabilities within the lease for more details).

What is the benefit to the local authority?

The local authority will be involved in making the decision as to whether a property accepted onto the Scheme so that they can be sure that this increase in their housing stock meets their particular housing needs. The local authority will have 100% nomination rights to the property during the duration of the lease. The Scheme has been used in the past to house homeless families but could also be used to house key workers or for those on the housing register. 

What are the costs to the local authority?

The local authority will need to make a commitment to contribute towards the rental charge if the property is void for a long period of time due to the inability of the local authority to provide suitable nominees. The local authority will be required to pay the entire rent for every week that the property is empty after the tenth working day of the new lease period and between lettings.

The local authority will also be required to underwrite 50% of former tenant rent arrears where all reasonable action has been taken by the housing association to recover the debt.

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Your Questions Answered - Local Authorities
Your Questions Answered - Landlords

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