Salford City Council has joined forces with private landlords to help deal with anti-social behaviour by launching the first training course in the country to help them deal with tenants who may be experiencing or causing problems.
The final goal is to help landlord draw up action plans around domestic abuse, hate crime, hoarding and anti-social behaviour, so that tenancies can be sustained. The scheme is also offering mediation between private landlords and tenants, alongside one-to-one help if it is needed.
Councillor Tracy Kelly, Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Housing, Property and Regeneration, said:
“Anti-social behaviour is a blight on communities, and this is part of a package of measures we are using to deal with it.
Social housing providers have established processes to tackle anti-social behaviour, hate crime and domestic abuse firmly but fairly. It makes sense to use their experience, knowledge, and best practice in training to help private landlords who may never have experienced such issues before. Our aim is to help landlords to deal with the issues either through their own actions or mediation, so the problems stop, and tenants don’t lose their homes. That way everyone benefits.
Fifty private landlords have already ‘road-tested’ the training and said they found it helpful. Very few of them had experienced problems but say they now feel more confident about recognising and dealing with issues if things should go wrong. We’re now encouraging landlords across Salford and Greater Manchester to come forward and take up the training. It is web based so landlords can take it whenever it suits them.”
With private sector tenancies making up a third of Salford’s housing market, this is a key issue for the council. The scheme was able to be launched thanks to funding from the nationwide Future Housing Fund.
