My tenant's can't afford rent
I'm worried about the rise in living that my tenants can't pay rent
Everyone is talking about the rise in the cost of living. Your petrol is not lasting you long enough, food prices have increased and don't get
me started on electricity! You are not alone; everyone should be concerned
Will the Government put in rent holidays for tenants?
What many landlords are not talking about enough is the impact this will have on tenants. Unlike COVID, where there were rent holidays,
no such schemes are being announced by the Government. With a third of tenants living in poverty (JRF foundation) this will be a massive
blow. So let's break that down. Many people living in poverty do not have the luxury of looking ahead. They are living day to day.
No imagine what happens when their bills go up, but their salary/benefits aren't? What happens then?
Something always gives, and chances are they will get in touch with the landlord/ letting agents to discuss rental payments.
How can I help my tenants if they can't pay rent?
First of all, please do talk to your tenants. We at My Landlord Cares LTD (ethical letting agency) have these discussions as part of our intensive 6-month introduction
programme. We get to know our tenants, we understand what they are having issues with, and we link them up with local schools, community groups
and neighbours. This means they build up good relationships with us. We have discussions about affordability with them, and if we identify
issues, we are able to refer them to statutory agencies.
One of our tenants Miro, says 'Badrul from My Landlord Cares helped me to understand what will happen in terms of my bills. I never thought
it would be this bad. We spoke about ways to save electricity (I like the house warm!).'
This means we are aware of issues before they become problems, and we can work around them. We can work out a plan with landlords and everyone
is aware of what is happening.
Isn't it better to be proactive than reactive?
To find out more about how we can help, drop us a message
News!
My Landlord Cares has a strong positive social ethos, and we want to provide high-quality support to our tenants. They are usually the most disadvantaged. We want to bring community development to properties. Due to this, we will be setting up as a social enterprise. This will mark us out as different from others. So excited about the future
Your network is your networth sound familiar?
I hear this a lot, ‘your network is your net worth,’ and usually I am like blah blah blah…. (my pessimistic side is coming out!) But I have learnt over the last few months that this is so true. I always say network as just acquaintances, and I worked harder to build relationships. Relationships are different because they take time and trust. No sales pitch and hard sales, just good old human-to-human contact.
And this constancy in approach is paying off. People are referring back to our work, signposting us to others, and we are getting direct contact from landlords/ investors.
Relationships are at the core of everything we do, and only on solid foundations can we start to build walls.
TEDx talk
TEDx talk
As part of our mission we want to challenge the status quo. We want more landlords to think about their property differently. We want them to think about the impact their property is making in people’s live. This may be the tenants, their neighbours or the wider community.
This is why I will be talking at the TEDx talk at Sheffield Hallam University on February 2022. I want landlords to be part of the solution and I want people to stop vilifying us all. Let’s make this conversation mainstream and I look forward to working with many more like minded landlords.
A pet is a family member for most
Now if someone told you to let go of your child, wouldn't you think that is daft and they must be bonkers? Then how is a pet any different? Unfortunately, not all pets receive the love and affection they deserve. But in these times of loneliness and isolation, we need to make things easier for people, not harder. Many pet owners are willing to pay extra cleaning fees and increased deposit amounts to bring their loved pets with them.
Would this not be better for a landlord than a tenant sneaking them in? As part of our commitment to better social value, we allow pets into our properties. For a skeptical landlord, there is software like PetScore that rates pets and will provide more peace of mind.
£37 million of funding secured for Sheffield
Castlegate and Attercliffe in Sheffield have been successful in attracting Levelling Up Funding from the Government.
This means more investment in these areas and much-needed infrastructure. If you are a property investor, these types of programmes mean long-term projects for the area, which will ultimately boost property prices.
https://sheffnews.com/news/sheffield-welcomes-37m-to-fund-two-major-regeneration-projects
Evictions taking an average of 45 weeks
Despite all the checks and all the references, your tenant has become a nightmare. It can be really hard; someone who was an amazing tenant can change, or their situation can change drastically.
Did you know that the average time it takes from claims to repossessions is 44.5 weeks (information provided by NimbleFin). That is a really long time to deal with anti-social behaviour or no rent!
We undertake many informal reference checks to get the right tenant into your property, and we undertake regular inspection visits. We will support you in these situations. Many of our landlords come to us when the situation is tough, and we help them make sense of things. Are you in this situation?
Sheffield tenants facing eviction from their homes over as littles
' Analysis of recent rent possessions - carried out by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism with support from Now Then and other publishers across England and Wales - suggests that this is exactly what happened as the national ban on evictions due to coronavirus was halted.
71% of rent possession cases observed by Now Then in Sheffield during July and August resulted in a possession order being granted, with tenants forced to leave their homes between 14 and 56 days.
Shockingly, one local case saw a tenant evicted from social housing who owed less than £300 to her landlord. Almost two-thirds of tenants had no legal representation in court in Sheffield, while nationally decisions about evictions were made by judges in an average of just ten minutes.' NowThen
These types of headlines are appearing very frequently in our newsfeeds.
We want to create a fairer world for tenants. 70% of tenants are from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. At My Landlord Cares, we work with tenants and landlords, which includes conflict resolution and mediation between both parties, so things don't escalate if they don't need to.
Let us stop these types of headlines:
Talk to us, we can help
Would you want to drive a Supercar?
'
I know many people live to own one of these beasts, but this is not us in the least. We are not after the finer things in life (if they came along, obviously, we would not say no!)
We want to leave the world a better place, and we have high ideals. We want people to have a better quality of life; this is for both our landlords and tenants. What makes us sleep better at night is knowing that we have affected the lives of others for good.
What ticks your boxes?
What led us to set up a letting agency?
Let’s be honest, when the so-called ‘property gurus’ talk about property management they never go into any-depth about tenants. Now this is like talking to a restaurant owner and them not discussing their customers!! We don’t care whether you own on or a hundred, customer comes first! As a landlord you should have at the least a basic understanding of your tenants.
We knew through our experience how important it is to support tenants, they referred follow-on tenants, and they made the property their home and stayed in the properties longer. This is the part we love, the tenant engagement. This can range from helping them to get to know the local area, signpost them to specialist services such as benefit support, offering a hand of friendship, including much more. This is part of our ethical approach.
We know it’s not a glam job, but we love getting our hands dirty and being practical. You have to be a certain type of person to do what we do, and we truly love doing this!
This is a win-win for landlords; they are able to hand over their properties to us, and landlords can decide whether they want to undertake their own work or have a completely hands-off investment.
We brought our passion for helping others and property together. We witnessed first-hand the support that Council housing departments and social housing provide and we wanted to bring this to private landlords. If you’re looking for property management in South Yorkshire, which is different from your high street agents get in touch.