Through the Ethical Letting Agency’s new Tenant Matching Service, we will match a tenant to your available property.
If you are a landlord wanting to manage your rental properties yourself, this could be the right option for you. Allowing you to relet your vacant property to a suitable, local household in need without having to market the property or pay any ‘tenant find’ fees.
And to say thank you for opting to use the service, we’ll make a £100 payment to you for every successful letting.
How does the scheme work?
Once signed-up to the scheme, local landlords can offer their available rental properties to the Council, so a suitable tenant can be found and put forward. We will do this using our list of residents signed-up to the service, and by finding tenants who best match the property. This will be based on their needs and preferences, including the size of the household and location of the property. We’ll undertake checks to ensure that the property is affordable to any tenants, and we’ll prioritise those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and who are owed a housing duty by the Council. Once we’ve found the most suitable applicant for the property, we will contact the matched applicant to make sure that they are still in need of a new home, and want to be put forward.
A prospective tenant will be put forward to the landlord within 5 working days of the property being offered to the Council, for the landlord to then consider and accept. If the initial nomination is declined, a further prospective tenant can be put forward (again within 5 working days). We will make up to a maximum of 3 nominations per property offer, before the landlord will need to resort to other means of marketing and letting the property.
You are under no obligation to accept any prospective tenant we put forward, and before making any tenancy offer we would encourage you to carry out any of your usual pre-tenancy checks to make sure you are happy with the tenant. As a landlord you will also still need to perform your usual statutory duties, such as undertaking the right to rent check.
Once the successful tenant has been agreed, we will continue to liaise with you in relation to the tenancy start date, and will provide a Bond Guarantee (in lieu of the usual cash deposit) through our Deposit Assistance Scheme. This will provide cover against property damage and/or rental arrears up to the value of 5 weeks’ rent. If any other up-front payments are required (such as ‘rent-in-advance’) these can be charged to the tenant, with additional financial assistance by the Council only available in mitigating circumstances, and at our discretion.
A ‘thank you payment’ of £100 will also be made to you (via BACs) once the tenancy has officially begun.
What are the benefits for landlords?
- There is no requirement to advertise your vacant property, or pay the ‘tenant find’ fees that are usually charged by a high-street letting agent, as the Ethical Lettings Agency will take on these functions for free
- Reduced void turnaround times (and reduced rental loss), as a prospective tenant is matched and provided within 5 working days
- A Bond Guarantee is provided, to give protection against rental arrears and/or property damage at the tenancy end (up to the value of 5 weeks’ rent), removing the usual requirement to collect and register a cash deposit with a tenancy deposit scheme
- A detailed inventory (with photographs) is compiled and made available alongside the Bond Guarantee, so all parties have an accurate record of property condition at tenancy start
- This is a flexible offer, with landlords free to test out the approach as opposed to making all their rental properties available to the scheme
- You are providing easy access to a home (away from the competitive commercial market) to a local household that may otherwise face homelessness and a stay in temporary accommodation
- Not only will no fees be charged, but we will also make a £100 payment to you (as a thank you from us!) upon the successful commencement of a tenancy through the scheme.
How can I offer my properties to you?
Properties can be offered by completing these three steps:
- Sign up to the Tenant Matching Service (external link)
- Register for the Landlord Hub (external link) and upload the rental properties (and associated documentation) that you wish to make available to the scheme
- Complete our property offer form.
Any landlords wanting to participate will need to first register and sign-up to the overall terms of the scheme. This includes agreeing to be set up as a registered supplier on the Council’s accounting system (so ‘thank you payments’ can be quickly processed) and registering for the Council’s Landlord Hub, then using this platform to register your rental properties and upload the relevant compliance documentation, such as the current gas safety certificate, EICR and EPC.
We will need to be satisfied that the property is safe and compliant before any tenancy nomination or offer goes ahead, so it is essential that the documentation is uploaded to the Hub as soon as possible. This can be done ‘as you go’ i.e. at the time you contact us to make the property offer, or you can upload it after you initially register with the Hub, so the documentation is readily available when your offer comes through.
There is no obligation to make all your rental properties available to the Council through this scheme; you retain the choice over which properties you offer to us, and it may be that you wish to test out the approach first (with one vacant property) before rolling out to future relets.
Once you have signed up to the scheme and registered for the Landlord Hub, any offers in respect of available rental properties can be made by completing our online Property Offer Form and providing key details such as the address, type and size of property, monthly rent and the date it will be available from.