CAYSH
Empowering tenants to widen landlord recruitment
CAYSH started their first Crisis funded private rented project in February 2011 and now delivers services in Croydon and Sutton to assist young people (under 25) who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
Working in the competitive commuter-belt rental market of Croydon and Sutton, landlords were always going to be a challenge to find, so CAYSH have teamed up with their own clients to overcome this- with great success!
Here is some advice from Steve at CAYSH on assisting tenants to find their own accommodation:
- Assess each client’s needs – ‘We want our clients to succeed and so it is important we assess their needs carefully as not everyone will be ready to find their own accommodation. If a client requires more support than anticipated we directed them to generic floating support services that will assist them in finding suitable accommodation.’
This plain English leaflet explains the CAYSH service to clients
- Set clear expectations – ‘We explain to each client how the service works, making it very clear they have to find the accommodation but we will be there to assist and support them for viewings and negotiations with a landlord or letting agent.’
- Explain affordability – Explain Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and the maximum top-ups clients should consider based on their income. This ensures they’re looking for accommodation they really can afford to sustain and we’re not setting them up to fail.’
- A safe home – ‘We make it clear that any rental property has to be safe and explain what checks are carried out carry out prior to the client moving in. At CAYSH we have members of the team who are HHSRS-trained, and so are well-placed to advise the clients on acceptable property standards but we also give them some pointers on property standards in our property standards leaflet.’
See the CAYSH Help to Find a New Home leaflet for details on property standards
- Motivation and knowing where to look – ‘Explain the best ways to look for accommodation - these include the websites spareroom.com and findaproperty.com, the local press, newsagents’ windows and word of mouth. Do emphasise the self-motivation needed to be successful: we encourage our clients in their search by operating weekly drop-ins with supervised access to the internet and telephone.’
See CAYSH’s Finding Accommodation leaflet for more details
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Explain your rent deposit bonds – ‘Landlords will want to know the exact details of the deposit/bond scheme and so it’s important the client understands the scheme too. At CAYSH we operate two rent deposit bonds and explain them both in a plain English leaflet.’
Take a look at the CAYSH Finding Tenants and Bond Guarantees leaflet
- Words of warning – ‘Caution the client never to leave a holding deposit even if the landlord / letting agent claim they have more viewings that day. This takes the pressure off the client to leave a deposit they often can’t afford and it protects them against potential scams. Our experience shows that clients can feel pressurised into borrowing money they can’t afford from friends, family or payday loans, thinking once they move in they will get the money back but this is not always the case. We have also learnt of clients being scammed by fake landlords who show a room/flat they don’t own, take a number of “holding deposits” from the unsuspecting tenants, never to be seen again.’
- Provide information to the landlord through the client – ‘We give the client leaflets explaining the service offered by CAYSH and including the scheme worker’s contact details. This gives the landlord a view of the professional service we offer along with our contact details. It also gives the client a reminder of our tips on finding accommodation. ‘
Check out the CAYSH Tenant leaflet for clients and our landlord information sheet
Contact Steve Cole at CAYSH Tel: 0208 683 5165