Steve

I initially came to the UK for three months through work. Eight and a half years later, I’m still here. I was brought up in France and have worked in Belgium. Now, I guess, I’m French and British – I became a British citizen last month. I work in the banking industry in central London, but I moved to Surrey in late 2023 as I was working mainly from home. I bought a threebedroom, two-bathroom flat in Reigate, part of a four-floor Victorian mansion. There is a massive garden in the back, and you’ve got the National Trust Trail just behind. It’s very lovely.

About five months after moving, my work said, ‘Maybe it’s time for you to come more into the office.’ I lived in the flat for a little over 18 months, but the commute was killing me. I’m in a position where I don’t really need to sell to be able to live, so I thought, I’m just going to rent it, and that’s how it all started…

I grew up in northeastern France near the German border. The collapse of the coal mining industry in the 1980s led to the closure of the mines, mass unemployment and an explosion of poverty in the area. There were people who had been coal mining all their lives, now unemployed and unemployable. That’s the environment I grew up in. I began volunteering with homeless charities when I was 14. I’d sell coffee and cakes on Sundays to raise money for people experiencing homelessness. It just breaks my heart to see people sleeping on the street. In recent years, I’ve volunteered as a kitchen assistant at Christmas with Crisis and receive the Crisis newsletter, which is how I learned about Good Place Lettings.

I just thought, I need to rent, and I can help someone. It’s been a very easy process, to be honest. Good Place Lettings has been brilliant, from the first contact to the onboarding of my tenants. I agreed to rent it at the local housing allowance, which is quite a bit lower than the mortgage amount I pay monthly. But I’m due to remortgage, so my rates will come down a bit. I also don’t commute as much anymore, which helps balance the budget. It just feels like the right thing to do.

Ben explained the process and suggested the flat might be most suitable for a young family. Charlie then told me they had decided that a single mum with two teenagers was the best fit. They were local to the area, which made sense. The children are settled, which will hopefully help the tenancy roll and roll. It’s the first time my tenant’s eldest daughter has had her own bedroom. She’s 18. Things like that make me proud of what I’m doing.

The whole point of going with Good Place was to do something ethical. I’ve never been a landlord in this country, so it’s been a learning curve. But Charlie and Ben have been incredibly helpful, and the communication has been smooth. When I email, I get an answer; when there’s a problem, it’s reported to me. I was able to help by leaving some furniture behind and now each of the three people living in my flat has their own space. For tenants, I believe the most important things are first, that it’s safe, and second, that you can feel at home.