A council initiative to purchase existing homes to add to its list of rental properties is now being extended to private landlords – including those with tenants already in place.
Officials say the new expansion of North Lanarkshire Council’s open market purchasing initiative will “help prevent homelessness and increase the council’s housing stock”.
The local authority has already acquired almost 600 properties since it first launched the scheme four years ago, providing additional homes for rental in areas of demand and where it allows the council to take full ownership of a communal block or address empty and derelict properties.
The initiative is now being extended to enable the council to buy homes from private landlords for the first time.
Existing renters would then be invited to stay in their current homes as council tenants or move out of the property.
Council officials say the scheme, which is supported by the Scottish government, allows the purchase of properties which are for sale on the open market.
Housing convener Heather Brannan-McVey said: “This scheme has been really successful in recent years and by expanding it to private landlords, we hope to be able to attract additional sellers and provide more homes for council tenants to rent.
“The market has been difficult over the last few years with the pandemic and cost of living crisis affecting sellers, but we hope that by extending our scheme, we can purchase and deliver more homes in areas where there is demand for that type and size of property.
“It also gives us the opportunity to bring empty properties back into use that have been lying empty or derelict.”
She added: “[There are] lots of benefits to potential sellers that can make it much easier for them to sell their home”, including no requirement for home reports, estate agency fees, viewings or being part of a chain of sellers.
“The opportunity for sellers in mixed tenure blocks of flats to sell to the council and stay in their home also allows us to progress with common refurbishment works which will benefit all tenants.”
The irony. Things have been difficult for landlords in the past couple of years. This is a council in Scotland where the SNP recently announced rent freezes for private landlords tenants and no evictions before March 2023.
In the meantime this country has no time sensitive ASTs and tenants can sign up or leave with only a months notice.
Yes indeed things are difficult now but soon this will be a country scrambling for rental properties and trying to incentivise landlords to invest there.
Gesture politics destroying the housing market.
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A lifeline for any landlord with a difficult property to sell on the open market?
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So the tenants stop paying rent because no evictions for two years, how will they ever pass referencing in the future. It’s going to happen south of the boarder, so just take guarantors !
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