Councils appeal to private landlords to help with housing crisis

My local council constantly bit***d about private landlords, accusing us of all "exploiting the poor" (according to one party) and then sent a begging letter to us, asking for our help with clearing council house list backlogs.
They have demonised and over-regulated us so much, that I wont be letting out ever again. Sorry, not sorry.

Reply to the comment left by David100 at 31/01/2025 - 09:44
It’s not a surprise. I expect we will see more of this as landlords exit. Which council is this?
My local council accused me of running an unlicensed HMO and when I spoke to them and said if the tennant was sub letting then I would section 21 them. They panicked and said we could work together for a solution.
In the end it was nonsense. They had inspected the property found no evidence of multiple occupancy but a neighbour said they thought it was a HMO!
Oh and btw they had “discovered” this several months before but when then wrote to me I had to prove it’s not a HMO within 14 days…

"Mansfield says there will be three check-ins during the first six months, focusing on tenancy management and promoting direct rent payments."

Councils in England struggle to manage consistent and regular waste collections. Let's not get started with how they manage public funds either.

Some Councils have gone bust, many in special measures. The Councils at risk of losing seats have canceled May's elections... Partner with them at your peril!

Reply to the comment left by Mark C at 31/01/2025 - 09:58It was Belfast city council. They seem to have a war on landlords, new ridiculous regulations every year, and then have the nerve to ask our help?

Lets be clear here. If any of us were stupid enough to accept tenants from the council. Who do you think they would send us? Mr & Mrs Nice-No trouble OR Mr or Mrs Constant problem?
They will off load all their problems onto the private landlords, then fine you for not keeping them under control.
Its a no from me

I had a conversation some time ago with an inspector from a labour run london council.
He told me that he was the guy that went after bad Landlords but he seemed perplexed as to why landlords could not be persuaded to lease their properties to the council.
I told him that I thought that more carrot and less stick might help the situation.

"... help those who are registered as homeless and currently in temporary residences..."

Probably many of those in temporary residences are those that decent PRS landlords have had enough of renting to so why would any landlord want to take them on as tenants?

Even if not "problem tenants" the whole situation is of Local Authorities making. Instead of spending council tax money on crazy projects they should have been working with Housing Associations, as they were/are supposed to do, to house people. Housing Associations should also not, in my opinion sorry, be building for shared ownership but to house those who cannot afford to buy.
Glad to be virtually out of the PRS and I was one of those landlords who only rented to those on benefits who believed people should have a "home". Sadly many of my tenants did not treat their property as a "home", though in fairness they may have treated any property they lived in, whether they owned it or rented it, in that way.

The day of the landlord will come soon, meanwhile be sure to reject any council supplied tenant without a watertight guarantor agreement. This must see the council take responsibility for rent, damage, not only to the rental property but also to all adjoining properties, tenant behaviour and all losses incurred as a result of housing the tenant.

Thought not, but then why should we accept such a risk?

Some of theses homeless could be ex LLs who have been persecuted, harrased, destroyed by the authorities - I wouldn’t be surprised! I’ve had tenants so desperate they’ll take a place without even seeing it - and more! So much for the government helping tenants, errr I don’t think so! It’s not for me.

Foxtrot Oscar