1. Security
Francesca Albanese – Head of Research & Evaluation
How can we encourage and support landlords to offer longer tenancies?
The private rented sector – A home for all?
Wednesday, 02 November 2016
#ahomeforall
Mike Rangecroft – Inside Housing Solutions
Susan Aktemel – Homes for Good
Chris Norris – National Landlords Association

2. How can we encourage and support Landlords to offer longer tenancies Crisis Conference 2016

3. Don’t assume……. Good relationships need planning & thought
There are different types of Landlord
Which Landlord is best suited to working with
you and your client group?
Research what that Landlord needs
Design a product that works for the Landlord
Design a product that can be delivered
Design a product that is sustainable
Planning and thought – too many organisations expect Landlords to work with them, without considering what you offer competitively in your marketplace
Different types of Landlord will want different support and products
Buy to Let / Developers – guaranteed rent
Portfolio – a simple tenant find (good referencing)
Accidental / One off Landlord – legal / tax advice, hand holding etc..

4. What Landlords want *DISCLAIMER Keeping it simple *DISCLAIMER
Solid, dependable, reliable, professional….
Rent paid
Their property looked after
Named / dedicated person to work with
No conflict of interest
Hassle free
Heads up on issues that effect them
Listening to
Rent Paid – regularly, on time, in full
Property looked after – by tenant (yes) – but also by you (whether you are involved in property management or not)
Customer service – Landlords invest in the person as much as the company
No conflict – think of the old chestnut – “staying put advice” – but also compare yourself to Foxtons! You are there for the Landlord
Think how your product looks if you were in the Landlords shoes – are they being phoned for every leaky tap or locked out tenant?
Particularly if they aren’t in the NLA or something similar – tax advice, legal support
Listening to – they are the customer, react and adapt to their needs as the market and the letting environment change

5. A Social Lettings Approach
A more professional ‘Landlord focussed’ service
A more secure scheme for the Landlord
Think more like a business
Work out your ‘cost of delivery’
Develop a project action plan
Diversify your offer
Generate income
Holistic Service
Think like a business
What do you aim to achieve?
What are the non-negotiables?
Understand your market
Understand your organisation
Finance
Legal IT HR
Corporate Services
Diversifying your offer
Tenant finder service
Management service
Guaranteed Rent
Cross Subsidy
Sell the benefits of a ‘social’ letting agency
No hidden costs
Minimal tenancy churn????
Property Investment

6. Where do I start though? Understand your market Resources
Financial
Staffing
Skillsets
Commercial Mindset
Why you?
Autonomy
Flexible to changing market
Understand your Market
What already exists?
Affordability and Availability
What does the market think of you?
What do you think of you?
What about the future
Pull it together
Exists: By this I mean, what other options and services do Landlords have to choose from.
Other PSA schemes, leasing schemes (important as they can offer risk free options), internet options (who know what is out there on the internet?), self manage options (gumtree, how easy is it to get a tenant yourself), commercial agents (what do they charge / quality and extent of service – mystery shopping), out of area poachers, what do they offer (freedom of information act)
A&A: – check Agents, rightmove, zoopla, gumtree – real time what is available and the price (bear in mind this doesn’t factor in will they take benefit tenants)
You need to understand what Landlords can get away with charging – you might not agree with it and it might be “above LHA”, but you need to know
A&A demographics might shape the initial service as quick wins help demonstrate delivery, build confidence within the team and from customers and help “trial” your processes.
A&A is also important if you have aspirations to procure in typically unaffordable areas. By understanding what the charges and services are in those areas, it helps you with your business plan – you could subsidise procurement in the unaffordable areas with surplus’s made in your affordable areas (or even out of borough)
Market think of you?
Small restaurant syndrome (don’t assume that your Landlords will continue to stay loyal to you) – and even if they do, this usually isn’t sufficent to develop a business on its own.
Market is changing (UC, increasing rents. Help to buy), how will these new challenges affect the service you offer and the perception of you and your client group (UC)
List common perceptions of Landlords towards Councils (goto next slide)
You think of you?
Self analyisis (from all levels of the organisation)
Where are the weak points – go back to what you did at the start of the day, what would your front line staff say? What would your director say? What would your admin officer say? All are valid and could affect what your SLA will look like, what the products are you are capable of delivering on and what model will help you deliver it.
How does your back office stuff work? – Portsmouth example of using spreadsheet – think also of receiving rents through your existing finance system.
Skillsets – what do you already have as organiations and individuals (strengths from this morning) – list these, retain these and use these, this should be the basis of your service and product - incorporate these into as much of what you do as possible (safe dull and boring lettings) – including your brand and name.
Start to think about processes and how you’ll deliver
Future
Try to anticipate – UC, Help to Buy, where are the future icebergs in your market. Legislation, national issues and also local issues - Speak to planning, understand where developments might be coming, include your literature in any development packages – offer buy to let Landlords an opportunity (will come back to later on).
Resources – look at this as a business plan, once you have finished assessing resources what do you need to improve upon, where are the weaknesses and would you invest in it?
Financial – when will you break even, where is the money coming from, can you do this within existing resources, reallocating resources or will you need funding / subsidizing – the crisis schemes.. – pressure to make money can over-ride a sustainable long term plan, so you need to factor this in
Staffing – who is going to provide the services to support this service. This isn’t about your front line services, but about your accountants, legal, repairs, rent collection etc.. Can they deliver what you need to run a commercial service – and can they do it in a commercial way (within timescales and to a level of service)
Skillsets – your front line staff, what skills will they need, what is their capacity compared to your targets? What will you expect them to do (collect rent?, support tenancies? – all this reduces the number of properties they can procure – so be realistic) – plus there are some skills that are needed in a procurement officer that are difficult to teach – honest, blunt, thick skinned and an ability to persuade (people skills!) – look at your business and think “who do I need to make this work – then go get them” Back to what Branson would say – you need someone who is enthused by your idea and wants to work as a part of it – this is 100% more important than having someone with existing skills.
Commercial Mindset – First of all, lets get this out of the way – The Landlord is the customer here, so that ultimately you can provide choice and service to your clients
Why you? What sets you apart? Why would a Landlord choose you? USP? Be realistic, if you simply replicate what is out on the high street, it’s a big ask to get Landlords to buy into your service with so many preconceptions about your tenants, your ability to provide a service, your conflict of interest issues and so on….
Autonomy – freedom to negotiate within boundaries – don’t tie officers hands – give them the tools to procure
Flexible to market – things will change, organisation needs to be able to respond to changes in legislation / market / staffing (emergence of nil charging online agents, internal services underperforming etc…)

7. Summing Up This is difficult, but not impossible
Think: what happens if we don’t change
Focus on
Identifying current resources
Where is the niche locally, how will you fill it?
Get the right skills, support and mindset
Identify, engage and convince your Landlords
Create a more secure business
Constantly review service and opportunities
Landlords will offer longer tenancies for better schemes
We went back to a lot of the SLAs we’ve worked with and asked them for their thoughts – the over-riding comment, its bloody hard work (Joy Potter doing 75 hours a week for first 2 years), but there are good SLAs and other organisations out there making a sustainable business and competing in their local market, offering more secure tenancies for their clients
Plus, despite everything I’ve said, what will happen if you don’t adapt – if you think procurement and creating longer tenancies is hard now, how is it going to look when all your clients are on UC– how is your current scheme going to stack up then as an option for Landlords?
Focus
Fill niche – resources, product
Skills – getting the culture right – embedding a commercial approach in every process and interaction you make
Engage your customers, convince them you can deliver - can you demonstrate what you can deliver through pilots or through pre-existing Landlord work (e.g. business club)
Stay ahead, adapt and thrive

8. The Crisis SLA Guide http://www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/PRS_folder_/
FINALSocial_Lettings_Agencies_Guide_v4_WEB.pdf

9. Contact details
Inside Housing Solutions Ltd Rectory Barn, Fulfords Hill Itchingfield, Horsham RH13 0NU Tel: E: W:

10. Encouraging Longer Tenancies
Chris Norris, Head of Policy

11. PRS in Numbers 12.5 years in the PRS 6.2 years in current home
Value for Money

12. Tenancies: status quo 83% Happy 88% Consider rental property ‘home’ 10
months
88% Consider rental property ‘home’
80% Satisfied with current landlord
31% Would prefer an indefinite contract
54% worried about the prospect of their landlord ending their tenancy
Have tenants ever asked a landlord for a longer tenancy?
Yes, but he/she refused
Yes, and he/she agreed
No, they have always been happy with the tenancies offered
No, they have not felt comfortable negotiating

13. Tenancy Vs. Agreement
The majority of tenancies begin with short agreements but continue for multiple years.
A difficult balance between security and flexibility.
Longer fixed terms represent a risk. But;
Voids can also be a significant cost.
The perception of security may differ from reality.

14. Barriers & Opportunities…..
Competition:
High demand
‘Better’ risks
LHA rates
Third Parties:
Letting agent involvement
Lender restrictions
Are external agencies involved?
Support needs
Is an LA a help or hindrance?
Experience:
Expectations
Rights and obligations
Understanding tenancies
Possession Process:
Big difference between s8 and s21
Reluctance to have to rely on s8
Lack of faith in ‘the system’

15. Skyline House, 200 Union Street, London, SE1 0LX
Tel: