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Council leasing by council › Southend-on-Sea

Let your house to Southend-on-Sea council

What Southend-on-Sea 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. Southend-on-Sea runs "Private Sector Solutions".

'We will find you a tenant. A full affordability check and housing history will be done.' The landlord keeps the tenancy and manages the property. The same page invites landlords' views on a proposed Private Sector Leasing Scheme under which the council would lease properties for a set period and pay a guaranteed rent; that is consultation, not yet a live scheme. Contact MyPropertyToLet@southend.gov.uk or 01702 534009. The separate Rent and Deposit Scheme is a 3-year interest-free loan to the tenant.

SchemePrivate Sector SolutionsTypelandlord incentives: cash, deposit guarantee or rent in advance to house a council nomineeRentnegotiated between landlord and tenantIncentives'paying a rent in advance and deposit or bond'; 'paying a cash incentive at the start of the tenancy'; Tenancy Sustainment Officer support and mid-tenancy inspectionsWhat they wantProperties with valid gas and electrical safety certificates, EPC and any required selective or HMO licenceCouncil pagewww.southend.gov.uk/advice-private-landlords/landlordChecked2026-09-28
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: Southend-on-Sea council, read 2026-09-28. Schemes open and close with demand; confirm with the council before relying on any figure.