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Let your house to Cherwell council

What Cherwell offers private landlords who want the council as their tenant or their letting agent, in the council's own words, with the page to apply on.

Yes. Cherwell runs "Cherwell Bond Scheme".

The council's dedicated bond scheme and landlord incentive pages (indexed under grants-and-assistance-for-landlords and help-for-landlords/770/cherwell-bond-scheme) all returned 404 on the day, so the verdict rests on the help-finding-private-rented-accommodation page which confirms rent in advance help, with figures from Crisis and govlaunch. Housing team 01295 227004, bondscheme@cherwell-dc.gov.uk per Crisis. Confirm the scheme is still running before relying on it.

SchemeCherwell Bond SchemeTypelandlord incentives: cash, deposit guarantee or rent in advance to house a council nomineeIncentivesCouncil page: 'In some cases, we can help with rent in advance.' Crisis PRS database entry for the Cherwell Bond Scheme: a guarantee to a landlord in place of a deposit plus 4 weeks rent in advance, for properties within or close to the ceiling of Local Housing Allowance rates. A Landlord Incentive Scheme (£1,000 per property let, grants up to £15,000 for energy and appliance upgrades) is reported by third parties.Council pagewww.cherwell.gov.uk/info/58/help-for-landlordsChecked2026-09-28
New: How council schemes compare, what you give up, and a ready-to-send email to your council

How these schemes work

Councils have a duty to house people they accept as homeless and a shortage of their own stock, so many lease or manage private landlords' houses instead. The common shapes are a lease of three to five years where the council becomes your tenant and pays rent whether the house is occupied or not, a management arrangement where the council lets and looks after it for you, or a one-off incentive (a cash payment, a deposit guarantee, rent in advance) for taking a council-nominated tenant on a normal tenancy. Terms, rent levels and what they want vary by council and change with demand, so treat every page here as a pointer to the council's own page, not a quote.

Before you sign

Check the same things you would for any let: whether the address is inside an HMO Article 4 area if the council plans to house more than one household, which licensing applies, and what the LHA rate is, since many schemes pay at or just under it. The free HMO Article 4 checker tests any postcode; Kerbio shows all three on the Rightmove listing before you buy.

See this on every Rightmove listing.Kerbio puts the Article 4 answer, licensing, the council's HMO register and sold prices on the Rightmove, Zoopla or OnTheMarket page itself. Free for 7 days, then £39 a month.
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Source: Cherwell council, read 2026-09-28. Schemes open and close with demand; confirm with the council before relying on any figure.