Council leasing by council › Dorset

Let your house to Dorset council

What Dorset 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. Dorset runs "Residential property direct leasing scheme and Key4Me landlord incentive scheme".

'Get guaranteed rent, 52 weeks a year, through our direct leasing scheme when you lease a residential property to us for a flexible term.' Key4Me deposits must be placed in a protected scheme within 30 days. Housing Supply Team 01305 838150; Key4Me via the online form or the landlord liaison team.

SchemeResidential property direct leasing scheme and Key4Me landlord incentive schemeTypea mix of leasing, guaranteed rent and incentivesTermLeasing: a flexible term. Key4Me: incentive payments staged over 18 monthsRentKey4Me: there must be no rent increases during the first 18 months of the tenancyIncentivesLeasing: guaranteed rent 52 weeks a year whether the property has tenants or not, no management fee, regular property visits, the council repairs any damage caused by tenants except fair wear and tear. Key4Me: staged cash payments by property size (for example a 1-bedroom property receives £1,333.33 at months 0, 12 and 18), help with a rent deposit up to a maximum of 5 weeks, and an upfront payment of rent up to 1 month or 4 weeks.What they wantLeasing: HMOs, flats, bungalows and houses. Key4Me: long term private rented assured periodic tenancies for households who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.Council pagewww.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/housing/advice-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: Dorset council, read 2026-09-28. Schemes open and close with demand; confirm with the council before relying on any figure.