Renting your property out (to local council)

RossB1982

Hi

Wonder if anyone can help / advise etc

Looking to possibly rent my 2 bedroom flat directly to the council (to save going through agents etc and hopefully secure a long term tenant)

Has anyone done this or can advise how i would go about this ? the property is in North Lanarkshire in Scotland if that helps.

Thanks in advance.

G_M

Ah! Scotland. Strange laws up there....

This post might help a bit but bear in mind it is England focused.

[FONT=&quot]New Landlords[/FONT][FONT=&quot] (information for new or prospective landlords)[/FONT]

beecher2

Contact your local housing service - links on right hand side of this page

http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=7949

Can't see them going for it, particularly with the present financial situation in NLC, but no harm asking.

Should add that I think the private leasing scheme is normally used to provide homeless accommodation, so might not be the best way to get a long term tenant. You might have to furnish the accommodation too.

RossB1982

beecher2 wrote: »

Contact your local housing service - links on right hand side of this page

Can't see them going for it, particularly with the present financial situation in NLC, but no harm asking.

Should add that I think the private leasing scheme is normally used to provide homeless accommodation, so might not be the best way to get a long term tenant. You might have to furnish the accommodation too.

Thanks the property could be left part furnished if needed , so no real issues there :T

I will head round to the housing office tomorrow as it is literally 2 minutes from the flat.

Thanks

eddddy

beecher2 wrote: »

Should add that I think the private leasing scheme is normally used to provide homeless accommodation, so might not be the best way to get a long term tenant.

Under the private sector leasing scheme, you would lease the property to the council - usually for a fixed period of 1 year, 2 years, 5 years etc.

They would then use it as they wished - perhaps as emergency accommodation with tenants changing every few weeks/months.

(That's how other councils work - so I guess NLC would be similar.)

The council would be the tenants' LL, so they would be responsible for all the stuff in G_M's useful link.

North Lanarkshire Council mentioned the scheme in a couple of their newsletters back in 2009/2010 - including a contact email address:

http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2832&p=0 (page 3)
http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=4672&p=0 (page 1)

But they don't seem to talk about it any more - so maybe they're not looking for any more properties.

vpb23

RossB1982 wrote: »

Hi

Wonder if anyone can help / advise etc

Looking to possibly rent my 2 bedroom flat directly to the council (to save going through agents etc and hopefully secure a long term tenant)

Has anyone done this or can advise how i would go about this ? the property is in North Lanarkshire in Scotland if that helps.

Thanks in advance.

I'm in NL too but not heard of this, interested to know more about it too.

G_M

This post covers a similar, though not identical scenario.

The OP leased to a letting agent rather than the council, who then sublet to private tenants (as opposed to council tenants).

But many of the legal issues overlap since the house-owner has no direct relationship with the occupier.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64656090#Comment_64656090

00ec25

vpb23 wrote: »

I'm in NL too but not heard of this, interested to know more about it too.

this used to be quite a popular topic on these boards usually accompanied by doom and gloom stories about the type of tenants the council places in the property and resultant ill will from your ex neighbours

there are also stories of how little money the LL was able to claim from the council at the end of the lease period when he discovered the extent of damage in the property

how many of the stories were true is unknown but be aware of the pitfalls especially if you ever intend to move back in yourself

EDIT- I was not necessarily referring to Bug Aunty as she was not one of the ones I recall although as she has now posted then read her experience with care!

BigAunty

My partner did this in the south east of England and rues the day the local council put in a succession of homeless tenants that trashed the property and alienated the local neighbours with noise, domestic violence disputes, mess in communal areas, suspicion of tampering with the communal mail.

The council did not undertake even basic maintenance or checks on the property as agreed -they cleared out the tenants belongings at the end but didn't fix any of the ruined things during the tenancy or at the end of it, at most boarding up one window the tenant had smashed. They forgot to schedule gas safety checks and didn't undertake a proper inventory at the outset which meant that my partner had no proof their tenants were responsible for damaging the property.

It cost around 7.5k to put right the damage and the Private Sector Leasing contract was a stitch up that limited the council's liability to a large degree, capping the damage. The kitchen and bathroom and virtually all fixtures and fittings had to be replaced, including lights, window catches, door handles and so on. A succession of debt collecting letters were recieved for the previous tenants there.

A stanley knife was taken to the bath, doors had holes punched in them, windows were broekn, poor decorating and DIY were undertaken (walls were painted around wardrobes, shiny foil sheets glued to kitchen cabinets, planks screwed onto mantel pieces to make bigger shelves).

The final tenants (who the neighbours and visiting plumber described as a newly released drug using s-e-x offender in a violent relationship whose first child was taken into care) refused to leave at the end of the private sector leasing agreement with the council, saying they didn't like the council flats they they'd been offered. The council admitted that they would not evict their tenants through the court as the local court had a reputation for not issuing possession orders to council tenants with children, citing the Human Rights Act as a barrier.

To the OP - make sure you understand the risks, the limits to compensation, potential weaknesses in the management of the property and tenants by the council. Understand what it means to have vulnerable tenants in your property. My partner had massive sympathy for homeless households which is why they went down this route but got mainly the anti-social, chaotic, criminally minded, anti-authority ones as tenants, ones the council were obliged to give social housing to but seemed to want to park them in private properties as long as they could.