Discharge Homelessness Duty

Council Schemes for Landlords and the Private Rented Sector are not making an Impact

August 21, 2012 David Lawrenson

Councils’ failure to engage with private landlords means families could be needlessly placed in emergency temporary accommodation or out of their local borough. Back in July, the Guardian newspaper published a piece of research I had just completed which showed how councils and housing associations are failing to engage private landlords with their various schemes. I thought it worthwhile to […]

Accreditation Private Landlords and the Social Letting Agency Model

August 9, 2011 David Lawrenson Leave a comment

Key Point: Most private landlords don’t set high value on things like membership of accreditation schemes and property inspections offered by some councils as part of Local Letting Agency schemes designed to attract landlords. They won’t pay much for these features either – especially where a good private let alternative exists. Local authorities must be realistic about what landlords want […]

Discharging Homelessness Duty to the Private Rented Sector – but where is the Property in the PRS

July 5, 2011 David Lawrenson Leave a comment

Key Point: We are concerned that whilst local authorities will, in theory, be able to discharge the homelessness duty into the private rented sector, the reality is that many councils may not have done enough to convince private landlords to make their property available to this end of the lettings market. On Monday, I featured with a clutch of housing […]