Guardianship Schemes?

rowan222

Does anyone know anything about rental properties under guardianship schemes?

We are considering a short term rental between houses and a couple have come up listed as guardianship properties. Rolling 28 days notice for both sides. This makes us a bit nervous. Typically how long can these tenancies last? Could we be faced with being given notice after just a month or two? Any experiences or info appreciated.

And exactly what is behind a guardianship scheme anyway. Why do they exist?

user1977

They exist because a landlord wants a short-term (and flexible) arrangement to have a property occupied in some way, typically because that makes insurance easier. Yes, I expect you would need to take the risk of being given short notice to leave (and possibly accept other quirks e.g. setting up camp inside a commercial building).

elsien

I read an article last year where people had stayed in places for six months plus, but always with the awareness that yes it could be 28 days notice.

You also need to factor in things like there may not be much in the way of heating so you might have to buy your own portable heater, And depending on where you stay, there could be shared facilities with other people.
Example here of what it can be like. clearly working for a lot of people so it would probably much depend on what is available in your local area and what you are prepared to compromise on for the

https://news.sky.com/story/property-guardianship-could-it-solve-the-uk-housing-crisis-13499948

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81892879#Comment_81892879

And depending on where you stay, there could be shared facilities with other people.

Not necessarily ones that are alive according to the article 😄

We've heard of guardians living in morgues,

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656265/guardianship-schemes

People dont want empty properties getting squatters, thats why they are often commercial properties because getting squatters out of residential properties is much cheaper.

Rather than pay for security guards, have people inspect the building etc, still have to pay the electricity connection etc they hand it over to a guardian firm. They put people in, on a room by room basis who pay them for the room.

They are structured so there is no way you can get tenancy rights, think most give you a 28 days contract at a time as part of that. There is no guarantee how long you can stay there but you will get notice and assuming you've been a good tenant then they will often offer you an alternative place to move onto.

How long you may be in a property depends on the owners needs. There was a former pizza restaurant that had people in for about 5 years before they redeveloped the building. You're typically just renting a room and have no say on who's renting the other rooms. The "guardians" either changed frequently or there wa sa good number of people in there as saw people come and go over a few years and rarely saw the same person twice. Obviously things change so the building owner may have said it would be for 9 months but then they get an offer they can't refuse so end early or their plans go sideways so ends up being empty much longer.

No idea if the plan was for the restaurant to be empty 5 years from the outset, ultimately they knocked it down and built a shop with flats above.

Emmia

There was a large pub near us which was occupied by guardians for about 6-7 years, which has now been redeveloped.

I think when you are considering this as a short term stop gap rental, how long (maximum) would you want to stay there for? And how you feel about sharing with a potentially ever changing set of people?

If it's one or two months, it may work well - it would probably be more difficult if you're thinking of a longer period than that.

theartfullodger

Which country ??e.g. Wales,\ |NI????

From the experts in landlord/tenant matters…

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/renting_as_a_property_guardian

silvercar

Some of your fellow housemates may not be of the human kind!

theartfullodger

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81894596#Comment_81894596

True everywhere, e.g. Balmoral... (The midges will be horrendous...)