We’re essentially asking Good Place Lettings to care for our most valuable customer and our most valuable asset. So, it’s crucial they recognise how important this is to us. And that’s the feeling we get. We really appreciate the person-centred approach, the customer focus and the sense of caring.
My wife, Rebecca, and I were lucky enough to receive a shared ownership offer from Peabody. Architects had designed these quirky, environmentally friendly homes in West Silvertown, East London. They’re unusually shaped, two-bedroom flats – 65 square metres with small bedrooms but large living areas, making them very comfortable places to live. As our family grew, we had an opportunity to move to Cornwall – Rebecca’s homeland! We were keen to hang onto the flat as by this point we had fully ‘staircased out’. But we really wanted to honour the spirit in which it had been created, prioritising key workers and maintaining rents at sub-market levels.
We managed the flat ourselves for about six years before a disastrous tenant experience where they stopped paying rent. They were chaotic and it got very confrontational. It was painful and cost us an enormous amount of money.
So, we went back to a letting agent. Initially, it was fine, but that agent was bought out. Our new agents just didn’t care and advised that we hike the rent by 20 per cent. We explained that we had good tenants who were too valuable to do that to. They pay us thousands of pounds a year; we want to treat them with respect. It’s more valuable to us to have a family in there who love our flat, treat it like their own and communicate clearly with us. The agent just looked at us with wide eyes, like we didn’t know what we were doing.
When we visited the property, it was clear the agent was treating the tenants with disregard, showing no respect and threatening things we were not threatening. I remember that stress as a tenant, worrying the rent would be hiked or the tenancy would end. Seeing that stress in our tenants’ eyes was deeply offensive to me, because it was the opposite of what we were trying to do. So, when Good Place Lettings came up, I knew and trusted the model.
I had knowledge of and huge respect for how Susan Aktemel and the Homes for Good team operate. I was also aware of Good Place Lettings’ partnership with Crisis and its backing from the Lloyds Banking Group. It made me feel this was going to work.
Finding an agent that understands you don’t want to charge the maximum rent is really difficult. But from our first meeting, Good Place Lettings has communicated with us with a level of detail and care that makes us feel valued. Ben and Charlie visited the property and met the tenants to get a sense of what they were taking on, which gave us confidence. We also appreciate Good Place Lettings’ efforts to find the best value and a pragmatic solution to every situation.
It feels good to be able to give our tenants some headroom that allows them to live well, not just survive. But for us, this approach is justified on a risk-adjusted return basis, not just on a ‘we’re doing this out of the goodness of our hearts’ basis.
