Pursuing on our home campaign for low income people and families to access affordable homes, we are this week working with them on the knowledge of local life.
As you probably know, Home Relief provides all-round residential property services principled by social goals with the aim of reducing housing deprivation for low income people and families. Our property relief service does not only provide home seekers and buyers with advice to access a home to live, but also help them to help themselves in effectively running their lives.
Among the ways of supporting these people and families to effectively run their lives is helping them to rent or buy a home in areas where they have basic knowledge and information and where local life can be supportive or suitable to them. Homes, Families and Local will be the topic for discussion with home seekers and buyers this week.
Learning to know the local area where you want to move in can help when looking for affordable homes. You can find information about your future local area online via the internet, through local letting and estate agents, on your phone if your phone has a local area feature, you can read local papers, you can visit local libraries etc.
For as long as you will be in the process of renting or buying a home in the future, you may need to know your locals. Amongst the locals is the local property market. Even after you have moving in, you may still need to know and integrate into the local life.
Being part of local life and getting involved or integrated in the local life (in things such as local language, value, habits, news, practice, shopping, networks etc.) can help to soften the process of looking for home to rent or to buy. If you have already found a home, local knowledge and information can still help you settle in and run your life
Local information can provide you with local networks, contacts, prices, empty properties, habits, flexibility (on things such as the amount or size of deposit to pay), better deals etc. These things can help you save money especially if you are on low income and looking for affordable homes or living in affordable homes.
The above is what this week’s session will be about. We can anticipate that at the end of this week’s process of knowing and learning about the locals, home seekers and buyers will be able to figure out their local area and make informed decisions concerning their home matters. In particular, this week’s activity will provide them with the following
√ Techniques to source a variety of local information and pages
√ Where to find local information about properties and local area
√ Leads to local properties to rent and to buy (both advertised and non-advertised)
√ How to read local information on properties to rent or buy
√ Ways of interpreting and analysing local information and local statistics
√ How to do local comparison for home-renting and buying purposes
√ What is useful and what is not useful in local information and data about properties
√ The vitality and reliability of local statistics for home seekers and buyers
The above benefits from this week’s session will be disentangled from the current say that the social media and big media have taken over the local newspapers and local life. The session will prove that local information and media are still relevant if not decisive when looking to rent and buy a property, especially for those who have income constraints.
To find out how this week’s activity may work for you, please contact Home Relief.
Need advice on local information for homes to rent or to buy, work with Home Relief.
If you are looking for an affordable location and home, Home Relief is the people dealing with affordable homes you could consider in your property searches and enquiries.
Home Relief campaign for low income families and their homes to rent or to buy continues this week with a focus on health issues.
We will be dealing with both indoor health within a home to rent or to buy, and outdoor health outside in the area where your future home will be located and the health facilities or amenities.
As you probably know, Home Relief provides all-round residential property services principled by social goals with the aim of reducing housing deprivation for low income people and families. Our property relief service does not only provide home seekers and buyers with advice to access a home to live, but also help them to help themselves in effectively running their lives.
Among the ways of supporting these people and families to effectively run their lives is helping them to rent or buy a home which is healthy and in healthy area with health facilities or amenities.
As part of working with low income earners/families to find homes that meet their health needs; Homes, Families and Health (HFH) will be the topic for discussion with home seekers and buyers this week.
The reason for this HFH campaign is that people and families with low income earning capacity are often forced to take or choose budget properties in a budget area. This could raise some concerns about the health conditions inside these properties as well as the health facilities or amenities in this budget (sometimes deprived) area. This is despite the fact that most sensible landlords/ladies and professional letting/estate agents would cover the health element in the property service they would offer.
The health issue in a home rental and buying market is very relevant than what one could imagine. We came across a couple owning a property and discovered after many years of living in that property they bought sometimes ago that it was built on a dangerous site and unsafe land; land subject to a collapse in the future. The property developers who sold them the land and built the property were no longer on the market. This is just one of the many health examples to consider.
Regardless of income sizes, all human beings are entitled to live in decent conditions. The issue of health becomes even a matter of concern where the home seekers and or buyers have health conditions and require a particular property to meet those conditions but cannot afford it. It is further important in the case of children when they are part of the occupancy of the property to rent or to buy.
This week’s activity with home seekers and buyers will help them to get some insights about the areas of health they need to be fully aware before renting or buying a home.
The session will consider the following
√ Areas of health to check when viewing a property to rent or to buy
√ Health questions and hazards to raise when viewing a property
√ Health history of the property and area (e.g. environmental site)
√ Health infrastructures and amenities in the local area
√ Environmental health in the local area (for example an area where there is or used to be a recycling site or with high level of pollution)
Etc.
As part of this week’s session, we will look at the areas of law related to health, safety and standards for properties to rent and to buy. We will as well deal some aspects of health insurance related to properties to rent and to buy.
We hope that at the end of this week’s health learning process, home seekers and buyers will be become
√ Health-aware regarding homes to rent or to buy
√ Better informed about health and environmental laws and their implications for the home buying and rental world
√ Capable of matching their budget with their health demand in their property searches and enquiries
√ More able to choose healthy environmental life and lifestyle for themselves and their children
√ Keen in doing some health and environmental searches before renting or buying a property
√ Knowledgeable in protecting their families
√ Aware of health insurance and protection related to property injuries and issues
√ Familiar with areas of law regarding health issues linked to properties to rent or to buy
√ Confident in integrating health considerations in their home seeking and buying plans
To find out how this week’s activity may work for you, please contact Home Relief.
Simply need health advice related to homes to rent or to buy, work with Home Relief.
If you are looking for an affordable location and home, Home Relief is the people dealing with affordable homes you could consider in your property searches and enquiries.
As you probably know, Home Relief provides all-round residential property services principled by social goals with the aim of reducing housing deprivation for low income people and families. Our property relief service does not only provide home seekers and buyers with homes to live, but also help them to help themselves in effectively running their lives such as meeting educational needs for families with children.
As part of working with low income earners/families to find homes that meet their children needs; Homes, Families and Schools (HFS) as a topic will be discussed with home seekers and buyers this week.
HFS is progressive session of home advice given by Home Relief to ordinary families looking to rent or to buy a property in the catchment area schools that are closer to their choices.
Often ordinary families and low income earners have a very limited choice for both affordable homes to rent (or to buy) and preferred schools of their choices for their children. This type of home seekers and buyers when they are looking for affordable homes within the catchment area schools at the top of the class, they may often settle with a forced choice of getting homes closer to the national average grade schools only.
Because these families have very limited incomes, it does not mean that the academic potentials and ambitions of their children have to be limited to unaffordable homes and forced choices of schools.
The HFS campaign helps these families to alleviate these two barriers or constraints (i.e. unaffordable homes and not-preferred schools) by supporting them as much as possible with information, advice, tips and guidance on these two matters. This would help them to get the best least possible choice on the housing and educational markets.
Attention readers!
The purpose of this week’s activity is to work with home seekers and buyers to reduce barriers in finding homes to rent or buy within the catchment area schools of their choices. The purpose of this week’s session is NOT to find schools for their children.
Home Relief hopes that this week’s campaign will enable families seeking to rent or buy homes to the following
√ Get as much as information they need and can to make informed decisions and choices for homes to rent or buy while taking into account the educational needs of their children
√ Boost their own home renting and buying search skills (skills to find a home to rent or buy and skills to find preferred schools for kids)
√ Better use of property finder, catchment area checker and school finder online services
√ Make better home renting and buying planning (including budgeting)
√ Discuss ways of improving their status (their earning capacities and references) as home renters and buyers
√ Enhance their home seeking and buying applications in order to be within the catchment area schools of their choices or their children’s choices
Briefly give a choice to low income families.
In the end, the all process of this week’s campaign is for them to generate a property rental or a property buy that includes both affordability and school preference.
Need home advice in relation to catchment area schools, work with Home Relief!
If you are looking for an affordable location and home, Home Relief is the people dealing with affordable homes you could consider in your property searches and enquiries.
This week we are going to work with landlords/ladies on matters related to security deposits and upfront fees for tenants.
Our session of work with them is about making the preparation regarding the incoming law that will restrict the level of deposits and ban upfront fees for tenants in the private rental market.
The incoming Tenants Fees bill from the UK Government will become the Tenant Fees Act 2019 as from the next 1st of June.
Although the Tenant Fees Act will only apply to tenancy agreements signed after the start of June 2019, it is better to start making preparations with landlords/ladies on how it is going to affect them.
Our preparatory work with them will deal with the following areas of discussion:
• How the ban on upfront fees for tenants and cap on security deposits will affect landlords/ladies’ property investment
• Exploring and rethinking a new business model of making money out of property lettings and management within the framework of the incoming newly regulated environment
• Examining areas of law and practice protecting so far property owners from bad tenants
• How to still conduct credit checks, inventories and references without tenants being charged for them
• How to tape into landlords/ladies’ protection and insurance products in the rental property sector to reduce potential risks due to property lettings
• Working on best possible ways of selecting tenants to avoid bad tenants since there will be bans and caps on what the tenants can be required to pay
• Looking into alternative sources of protection and guarantee so that landlords/ladies can adapt to the new rental world (a post-tenants fees one) and mitigate the adverse effects of the incoming change on their property investment
• How to improve margins and keep the revenue stream of your property in a deposit and tenant fees regulated environment
The above are the issues we intend to discuss with landlords/ladies and property owners. Our work will as well look at other areas of the new legislation like penalty on tenants for late rent payments and loss of keys, in particular how to implement them in the given terms and conditions of business.
We hope this week’s session of exchange of ideas with landlords/ladies will help to achieve the following outcomes:
√ Better prepared landlords/ladies to embrace the post-tenant fees world
√ Confident landlords/ladies about the prospects for letting through us or by themselves or even through a third party
√ Motivated clients to keep the property investment and lettings instructions going
√ Empowered landlords/ladies with ideas so that they can integrate bans and caps (about what the tenants could be required to pay) in their letting plans
√ Skillful customers in diversifying the property portfolio and minimizing risks and threats
√ Risk averse landlords/ladies will be informed on a range of protection and insurance products and schemes
√ Better planner landlords/ladies with peace of mind and security about their property investment
Etc.
One week of discussion is not enough to get the ins and outs for a good preparation for this kind of change. However, this week is just a building block of a series of activities to come until the Tenant Fees Act 2019 becomes in force and mandatory.
Need to prepare for the post-tenant fees world, work with Home Relief!
If you are looking for an affordable location and home, Home Relief is the people dealing with affordable homes you could consider in your property searches and enquiries.
Making Finding and Keeping a Home to Rent Easier for Renters and Home Seekers
How to find and keep a home under a new online direct rent payments system
This week we are working with prospective tenants and home seekers on the ways of finding and keeping an affordable and decent home. This week’s work is our affordable and decent home campaign
This week’s activity or session is for prospective tenants and home seekers from rental private sector who probably are or will be eligible for universal credit or housing benefit.
The session has to be placed within the context of the Work and Pensions Secretary’s news of two weeks ago about a new online direct rent payments system to landlords/ladies.
Last week, we focused on landlords/ladies regarding this system. This week our emphasis is placed on the real beneficiary of this new system, universal benefit claimants.
Indeed, the process of finding and keeping an affordable and decent home has never been easier for some people, especially for those on low incomes or on universal credit or housing benefit. This week we are going to explore with prospective tenants and home seekers ways of softening this problem of finding and keeping a home.
We would work with the assumption that those eligible for universal credit and looking for a place and space to rent would have the expectation that their application for rent would be considered by landlords/ladies or letting agents.
Being supported by a Government scheme to make your rent payments directly to your prospective landlords/ladies or managing agents does not necessarily guarantee that you have been accepted by landlords/ladies and letting agents.
What else can you do to persuade those landlords/ladies who naturally have some kinds of reservation or reluctance on your situation of being universal benefit or housing benefit claimant or applicant?
In this week’s activity, we will try to deal with one of the most difficult issues that low income home seekers face; which is how to find and keep an affordable and decent home while you are experiencing budget constraints on the income side. We will try to make finding and keeping a home easier for benefit claimants. This is what this week’s activity is all about.
So, as part of our affordable and decent home campaign, we will be working on the following
√ Online direct rent payments system
√ Universal credit
√ Rental budget
√ Ways of improving your rental application
√ Home finding techniques
√ Home keeping solutions
Etc.
We hope that at the end of this week’s home finding and keeping process, renters and home seekers will be able to develop a basic rental plan and meet their goals of finding and keeping an affordable and decent home within their budget constraints.
If you are having problems in finding and keeping a home, Home Relief is willing to work with you to find ways out of your problems.
If you are looking for an affordable location and home, Home Relief is the people dealing with affordable homes you could consider in your property searches and enquiries.
Online Direct Rent Payments to Landlords/ladies of Universal Credit
Until now, landlords/ladies could apply for an Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA) and use the UC47 form to get paid the housing element of Universal Credit directly to them. This system has some advantages and disadvantages. One of the limitations and inconvenience of this system is notably a long waiting time.
Last week, the Work and Pensions Secretary announced that there will be a new online system allowing rent payments to be paid directly to landlords/ladies. The new system is meant to rectify the inconvenience of the old one and help both tenants and home seekers to secure a tenancy.
This week, we are working on this new initiative announced last week by the Work and Pensions Secretary regarding a new online system allowing rent payments to be paid directly to landlords/ladies.
This week’s activity with landlords/ladies will address some of the questions surrounding the use of the newly announced system by the Work and Pensions Secretary and the issue of letting properties to Universal Credit claimants (UCC). In particular, we will look at the following questions:
What do landlords/ladies think and feel about the new online system (Online Direct Rent Payments to Landlords)?
With this new online system, can they re-consider their position in letting their properties to UCC? (Especially those landlords/ladies who are reluctant to do so)
What further guarantees do they may need?
How Home Relief can help you on this matter?
This week’s activity with landlords/ladies of UCC goes further in dealing with the following related issues of Online Direct Rent Payments to Landlords/ladies holding other property accounts. Specifically, we will be as well working with landlords/ladies on the following elements of property management account:
Understanding online direct payments account and its implications for a sound property management
Setting up an online direct payment account and a mobile money account
Dealing with online security and protection issues in relation to online direct payment accounts
Monitoring your online direct payment account
Choosing and using digital technologies to handle online direct payments (e.g. iPhones, mobile phones, tablets, laptops etc.)
Managing your online direct rent payments account alongside with other online payments etc
Briefly, we will work on two points:
1/ Issues or questions surrounding Online Direct Rent Payments to landlords/ladies
2/ Managing online direct payment accounts
At the end of this week’s activity and process of working with landlords/ladies, we hope to achieve the following outcomes:
landlords/ladies will be able to gain confidence in using online direct payment accounts and will shift their mindsets in becoming positive in their attitude towards letting their properties to UCC in the future.
The above mentioned activity for this week is for landlords/ladies letting and or thinking of letting their properties to Universal Credit and housing benefit claimants or recipients by themselves or via Home Relief.
If you are a landlord/lady thinks or feels you may consider UCC people and families, this week’s activity is for you.
If you are a landlord/lady wants further details about this week’s activity, contact Home Relief.
If you are looking for an affordable location and home, Home Relief is the people dealing with affordable homes you could consider in your property searches and enquiries.
• New Year, New Lets for Landlords/ladies and Homeowners!
January is the right month for property lettings.
January is the month during which people, who are looking for properties to rent in the New Year, may want to move.
They may want to rent in the New Year for various reasons which include:
√ Start a new life
√ Move to a new area
√ Feel good in a new home at a new place
√ Move closer to a school for children
√ Start a new job
√ Relocate with family
√ Get closer to healthcare services
√ Reduce commuting journey and costs
√ Realize their postponed moving plans made before the New Year etc.
As these reasons speak themselves, January is the right time to get a tenant.
Home Relief is ready to make January the right month to get a tenant for you landlords/ladies and home owners.
With Home Relief,
√ Rental Market Value is guaranteed
√ Home seekers with deposit and rent in advance awaiting
√ Vetted Renters with suitable references and incomes already registered on our books
If you have a bit of concern about over spending you made during the last Christmas and the New Year celebrations, it is now time to start getting some finances from your property letting.
Home Relief is ready to help!
GET YOUR FINANCES BACK ON TRACK FROM YOUR PROPERTY LETTING NOW!
Contact Home Relief TODAY!
• New Year, New Rentals for Home Seekers and Prospective Tenants!
New Year is a New Chance to get a New Home to Rent through Home Relief.
You can move in this January 2019 with Help to Rent from Home Relief.
We have a number of properties to let at the Best Ever Offers in our rental stock.
They range from a Single Room to Flats and Houses.
If you are looking for a New Home in the New Year, here is the New Chance for you to start this year.
It does not matter whether you are a first time renter or all time one.
Home Relief does not only offer you properties to let, but also we can assist you with our Help To Rent scheme.
Our property service operates on the first come first serve basis.
Contact our Lettings Negotiator NOW to arrange a customized response to your home needs.
If you are looking for an affordable location and home, Home Relief is the people dealing with affordable homes you could consider in your property searches and enquiries.
We hope that despite the ups and downs of life, you are ending 2018 on a happy note.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all Happy New Year wherever you are in any part of the world.
We hope that the year 2019 will be of tremendous opportunity for all of us.
Below you will find the Review of 2018.
Home Relief 2018 Year in Review
The following 18 property themes and campaigns, which shaped the year 2018 for Home Relief, are the ones we have selected and listed in no particular order.
1. Decent Rents
2. Convenient New-builds
3. Bringing Home-Buying Processes and Products for Low Income Earners under the Same Roof
4. A Foothold on the Home Ladder can be a Relief
5. Home Selling
6. Property Checks and Inventories: Tenants’ Participation
7. Check Rental Statistics
8. Setting up and Organising Rental Accounts as a New Tenant
9. Making Rental Journey Affordable for Home Seekers!
10. Summer Renting Campaign – How to Make your Renting Plans Work
11. Season to Rent for Home Seekers
12. WI-FI and App-connected Kitchen!
13. Home Seekers’ Targeted Properties to Rent
14. Landlord-Tenant Relationships Support Week
15. Key Tips for Warm Rental Homes
16. Property Rescue Mission With Abandoned Properties
17. Tips for Digital Windows and Home Tech
18. Becoming Home Owners in 2019
If you are a Home Relief’s blog reader, you will remember these themes or campaigns. Otherwise, you can still contact Home Relief for any details regarding them.
With all the best wishes of happy ending year 2018 and of promising year 2019!
We thank you for your clientele over 2018 and wish you Happy New Year!
We look forward to receiving your regular visits to Home Relief website and to doing business with you in 2019.
Home Relief – freelance e-property people dealing with affordable homes
We have the following messages for the festive period.
• Queries and Enquiries
During the Festive holidays, we will only handle online queries and enquiries.
Most of our property services are scaled down around this period until the New Year. People should expect delay from us in returning their calls/e-mails.
• Home seeking applications
For those looking for homes to rent, please do not hesitate to text or email Home Relief your home seeking applications. We are aware that not everybody has got a home to live this festive time and at the beginning of the New Year. If you are one of them and looking for accommodation, do not hesitate to contact Home Relief.
• Letting instructions
Landlords/ladies and home owners who would like to instruct us over this festive time, please do not hesitate to text or email Home Relief your intentions to instruct. Likewise, landlords/ladies and home owners who would like to recommend Home Relief to their friends and families for letting instructions this festive time, HomeRelief would be pleased to take their instructions further.
• Home-buying advice
As mentioned above, our advice service to home buyers is as well scaled down this time of the year. Those who are looking to buy a home in the New Year, they can still text/email the areas of home buying process they would like to seek advice. Depending on the matter and individual case, we shall get back to them as soon as we can.
• Maintenance over the festive break
If you have any maintenance problems, please do not hesitate to contact us. However, we would like to let you know that most of our maintenance service providers are already on holidays. Only a few of them will be available.
In case of emergency or exceptional circumstances, please do not hesitate to text/phone us; we will respond to your text/phone as soon as we can.
We would like to apologize for any inconvenience or upset this may cause.
We thank you for your clientele over 2018 and wish you a Very Happy Festive break!
If you are looking for an affordable location and home, Home Relief is the people dealing with affordable homes you could consider in your property searches and enquiries.
WHAT HOME RELIEF CAN DO FOR YOU TO FIND A TENANT BY THE END OF THE YEAR 2018.
If you haven’t still found a tenant up to now and or before you break up for the festive holidays, you don’t need to rush or worry.
Home Relief can take care of your property to ensure you get the right letting deal by the end of this year.
We can undertake a number of steps to let your property before the festive celebrations or provide you with an undertaking so that your vacant property is filled with suitable tenants when you return after the festive break.
The steps we can take include the following:
√ Inspect your property and do some suggestions, if required, regarding its overall rentability
√ Provide you a current and realistic rent valuation of your property if you can’t do it by yourself
√ Agree with you whether you want to let now or to wait at the start of the New Year
√ Re-profile the types of prospective tenants you are looking for
√ Reassess all the marketing channels and steps you have so far taken to try to let your property
√ Re-market your property through revised marketing channels (both print and online)
√ Organise festive accompanied viewing appointments on your behalf
√ Provide you a brief at the end of this process and let you to decide.
The above are generic steps which we can customise depending on your situation and the conditions of your property.
If interested in Home Relief taking care of your property over this festive season, please contact us NOW!
If you are looking for an affordable location and home, Home Relief is the people dealing with affordable homes you could consider in your property searches and enquiries.
