Council leasing by council › Kensington and Chelsea

Let your house to Kensington and Chelsea council

What Kensington and Chelsea 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. Kensington and Chelsea runs "Private Licence Agreement (PLA) Scheme and Free Letting Service".

The PLA scheme is a guaranteed rent scheme placing self-contained properties into a leasing scheme with housing associations and private letting agents; over 1,300 families are housed under it across London. The council does not run a fully managed service on the free letting route. Phone 0207 3613008.

SchemePrivate Licence Agreement (PLA) Scheme and Free Letting ServiceTypea mix of leasing, guaranteed rent and incentivesTermRelatively long-term basis (not stated)RentFree letting service: rents should generally fit within the Local Housing Allowance, residents can sometimes afford to top upIncentivesPLA: guaranteed rent; free letting service: a financial incentive paid to landlords for working with the council, no fees to landlords or tenants, all paperwork drawn up and renewals handledWhat they wantPLA: self-contained properties, preferably within Kensington and Chelsea but sought in all areas of London, valid gas and electrical certification, generally EPC D; free letting service: properties anywhere in the UKCouncil pagewww.rbkc.gov.uk/housing/information-homeowners-private-rented-tenants-Checked2026-09-28

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: Kensington and Chelsea council, read 2026-09-28. Schemes open and close with demand; confirm with the council before relying on any figure.