Shepherd Direct, the parent company of estate agency franchise business Century 21 UK, has confirmed a deal to build thousands of new private rental homes across the UK.

The deal, completed this week, hands a huge amount of business to Century 21 UK franchisees – initially in the north, but eventually all over the UK.

In partnership with residential and urban regeneration specialist Sigma, the first phase will consist of 927 new homes costing around £100m, built on 14 sites –ten in Manchester and four in the Liverpool area.

Further phases are to follow, eventually creating Britain’s biggest private landlord, with a portfolio of at least 6,600 properties in the £700m joint venture.

The Century 21 offices will be handling tenant selection across the UK for all properties, with ongoing portfolio management undertaken by the group’s Direct Lettings business.

The project is backed by Gatehouse Bank.

Rob Clifford, group commercial director of Shepherd Direct Group and also chief executive of Century 21, said: “This is a particularly exciting announcement for our group and is the culmination of many months of hard work by our PRS managing director, Paul Staley, and his team.

“Shepherd Direct Group is absolutely delighted to be a key component in this proposition with our important role in selecting tenants and managing the portfolio for years to come.

“We have worked very closely with the team at Sigma in order to get to this stage and there will clearly be many benefits, particularly for our hundreds of new tenants who will have the benefit of this fantastic new-build product.

“As our Century 21 UK and Direct Lettings businesses are delivering the project exclusively this provides a great boost to our franchisees.”