Tech firm that helps landlords sell rented homes to sitting tenants secures first funding

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A free service that helps landlords manage their portfolios more profitably but also sell individual properties to sitting tenants through an innovative funding model has secured its first big cash injection to develop the platform.

Homely says the undisclosed investment will value the firm in the ‘double digit’ millions.

The business has a three-pronged approach; to help landlords and tenants manage properties better; enable tenants get on the property ladder; and help landlords sell their properties to existing tenants.

It also claims to help both small and large portfolio landlords by offering more efficient financing opportunities, reduced vacancy rates and increased tenant retention.

Launched in 2021, Homely’s overall aim is to work with landlords, home owners, renters and finance firms to grease the wheels of renting, being a landlord, getting on the property ladder and home ownership through both tech and partnerships with finance firms such as Aviva.

Obscure

The company providing the funds to move Homely from obscure tech platform to household name is UST, a Indian-based global provider of tech to digital platforms.

Lewis Scott (main picture, inset), CEO of Homely, says: “At such a crucial moment for the property market, this first round capital raise will allow Homely to help more people on their journey to homeownership.

“When it feels like buying a home, or qualifying for a mortgage, is moving further and further out of reach, Homely is committed to providing innovative solutions, underpinned by technology.”

View Full Article: Tech firm that helps landlords sell rented homes to sitting tenants secures first funding

REPORT: London rental stock shrinks by 41% as landlords quit sector

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London’s rental market is contracting dramatically as landlords exist the market, a new joint report by estate agency Savills and the London School of Economics has highlighted.

Its report, which included London Property Licencing on its advisory board, reveals a 41% reduction in the number of London properties available for private rent since the Covid-19 pandemic ended.

“London’s private rented sector, which provides homes for over one million households, is heavily reliant on private landlords,” says Abigail Davies, Director, Savills.

“Many have high levels of borrowing who find themselves at the sharp end of the turmoil in the mortgage market.”

The two groups which funded the report, Capital Letters and London Housing Directors’ Group, say the contraction in supply, along with the ongoing gap in the Local Housing Allowance and fast-rising rents, make Government intervention to prevent rising homelessness more important than ever.

The report highlights how the availability of large homes with four bedrooms declined the most (-46%) while overall asking rents increased by 20% since March 2020.

Broken

“This research is the latest evidence of how the capital’s broken housing market is worsening the unsustainable and increasingly unmanageable pressures we face in London,” says Cllr Darren Rodwell (pictured), London Councils’ Executive Member for Regeneration, Housing & Planning.

“A bad situation is now becoming disastrous. We’re seeing fast-rising private rents and reduced availability of rental properties against a backdrop of continuing cost-of-living pressures and London’s longstanding shortage of affordable housing.”

Sue Edmonds (pictured), Chief Executive of Capital Letters, adds: “This research makes stark reading, and it is further evidence that our homelessness system is breaking down. This is the worst it has been for 30 years.

“The main issue is supply – there simply aren’t enough homes, and the contraction of the private rented sector, alongside escalating rents, is a severe blow to those who rely on it.”

Read the report in full.

View Full Article: REPORT: London rental stock shrinks by 41% as landlords quit sector

Landlord wins praise for offering ‘only locals’ affordable property in town

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A landlord in the Kent seaside town of Whitstable has won plaudits after deciding to rent her rental property to local people, it has been reported.

Trish Neaves (main picture, inset), who has operated within the town as a landlord for 20 years, says she resisted her letting agents’ advice to convert the flat into an airbnb and has instead decided to rent it for £200 a month less than its market value of £1,300 and restrict applicants to those who hail from the area.

60-year-old Neaves, who is a barrister, told local newspaper the Kent Messenger that while the influx of London second home buyers and Airbnb renters in recent years to the fashionable hotspot had been good for local tourism businesses, it has made affordable rented homes scarce for locals.

“I went to lunch with a friend and her whole family has lived in Whitstable for years and she told me her children found it hard as the properties they would have rented are all Airbnbs or second homes,” she told the paper.#

“It seemed to me, as I have properties in Whitstable, it was important local people had the chance.

“I am conscious that this cost-of-living crisis has made a big difference to people, and if it’s a rent that I’m satisfied with and can help people, then I’m happy to do it.”

Neaves has gone much further than the Government, or local councils, have ever dared to go.

So far just Scotland and a handful of tourist town boroughs in England and Wales have raised council tax for second homes and Airbnbs, while the national Government only recently launched a consultation on proposals to bring in a national register of short-term lets and enable councils to use planning laws to stop landlords switching to Airbnbs.

Pic credit: Getty/Trish Neaves

View Full Article: Landlord wins praise for offering ‘only locals’ affordable property in town

Short term letting to business travellers?

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Hello, does anyone have any experience of letting their property for short-term lets (3 months – 12 months) to business travellers? I have a property which has been refurbed and is empty right now, but at some point in the future

View Full Article: Short term letting to business travellers?

Landlords renting to illegal migrants face huge new fines

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Landlords face being put out of business with the government trebling the fines for those who rent a home to an illegal migrant.

The government says this will be the biggest shake up of civil penalties since 2014.

View Full Article: Landlords renting to illegal migrants face huge new fines

Sadiq Khan slammed over ‘well worn’ rent control calls

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Like a jack-in-the-box that keeps reappearing with an unwanted message, Assembly Members on the London Assembly are fed up with Mayor Sadiq Khan’s calls to bring in rent controls for the capital’s private rented sector.

They say he is distracting attention away from his own poor performance in the capital and he doesn’t have a plan for what to do with rent controls should he get them.

View Full Article: Sadiq Khan slammed over ‘well worn’ rent control calls