Renting to the council?

[fifilovestrixy]

Hi all,

Now I may have got the wrong end of the stick, but is it possible to rent your house to the council??? May sound silly, but I'm sure that a friend of my mum's rented her house to the local authority... I vaguely remember her saying that the pro was that they always paid, but the con was that the tenants may not be those you had in mind...

Anyone got any more info? Did a google but got nowhere

Thanks in advance

Fi

[Trenners]

Hi fifilovestrixy,

As resident "Council Tenant" expert ... here are my thoughts.

a) Some local authorities do offer schemes whereby they will commit to rent your property for a set period of time (eg: 5 years).

Your friend is right in saying that the Council always pay, you rarely have any choice or say in the type of tenant that the Council put into your property although the Council will return the property to you (at the end of the fixed period) in the same condition that it was given to them.

I, personally, am not a great fan of these schemes because although they generate a great income for the landlord they do tend to upset the neighbours (who have to live next door to the selection of tenants that are housed in your property).

I prefer to select my own tenants who are claiming Housing Benefit and work with the Council to house them in my investment properties.

I hope that helps ....

Mark

[fifilovestrixy]

Hi Trenners,

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated!

Sorry to keep picking your brain, but who would I approach at the council to investigate this as a possibility?

Cheers

Fi

[Trenners]

Hi,

The best place to start is either the "homelessness department" who work to find housing for the most "priority need" cases ..... or, if not, the "housing options team".

Give the local Council a call and ask to speak with a "homelessness officer".

I hope that helps .....

Mark