Renting to Local Housing Authority

[emicen]

Basically I know this is possible but havent been able to find out any information on how one goes about making a property available to them for rent.

I ask because we have always had students in our flats but the hassle involved in letting to them varies greatly from year to year. I have heard with council appointed tennants you basically sign a term agreement for x months/years with a clause the property will be returned to the condition it was at the start of the agreement by the council at the end of the tennancy.

Any and all experiences welcome!

[gazm]

emicen said:

Basically I know this is possible but havent been able to find out any information on how one goes about making a property available to them for rent.

I ask because we have always had students in our flats but the hassle involved in letting to them varies greatly from year to year. I have heard with council appointed tennants you basically sign a term agreement for x months/years with a clause the property will be returned to the condition it was at the start of the agreement by the council at the end of the tennancy.

Any and all experiences welcome!

A good friend of mine has done this with Hammersmith Council - its a 5 year deal with a clause that they put it back to the original state. he hasn't had any problems and is clearing £500 per month after paying the mortgage.
The one thing they will do IIRC is come in and inspect the house / flat. they may want you to remove certain things like gas fires.

[steve.c]

it also has the downside of the council putting in problem tennants! The couple across from me let their house to the council who then housed a problem family there,the only 'vetting' that gets done is in regards to rent arrears but as it is all paid by the social there never are arrears! the police were round almost every weekend and finaly after 5 months the family left the evening before bailiffs called the following morning,left the house in such a state the clean up and repair bill came to approx £5k, of course the family now have another 'free' house other side of town supplied by the council

[jas xjr]

depends where you are. i have experience of these types of tenants in staffordshire. the council cannot cope with the amount of claims.tenant moves in,pays deposit.council can take 2 to 3 months paying rent. on time once initially set up. some of the lovely clients damage the house,run up bills and disappear before we even see any rent.
also the council will not always pay all of the rent. eg i have a tenant to whom i rent out a terraced house for £400 pcm.the council pays me £300. the tenant pays me the balance. lot of messing around.
if you can get a long term deal with either a local authority or housing association,then fine.
i only have one tenant who is local authority now.but he has paid me enough rent to pay for the house he is in