Helping NHS Staff Find Affordable Rental Homes in 2022

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17 December 2021

As some of you may know, we launched a campaign in November 2021 to help NHS staff, here in Cornwall, find affordable rental accommodation.

The campaign was started because of an item on BBC Spotlight where a radiologist at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) was being evicted from his home because the landlord wanted to sell it. The radiologist explained that finding somewhere to rent was difficult because (a) the rents were high and (b) because his shift patterns meant he was always at the back of a very long queue.

So we, at Camel Lettings and our sister company, Homequest Lettings, decided to do something about it.

We went onto social media and blasted out the message that if there were any socially conscious landlords who wanted to help, by reducing the monthly rent, we would reduce our fees. Initially, the response was poor, despite coverage from BBC Radio Cornwall, BBC Spotlight and Pirate FM. However, after a second televised interview on BBC Spotlight, alongside a theatre nurse who was also being evicted, the phones did start to ring.

We visited a landlord who was refurbishing 5 apartments who said we could have them for NHS staff, we visited a retired gentleman who hadn’t planed to let out his annexe but was moved by the TV article and we visited many more, similarly, socially conscious people who wanted to help the NHS staff. One lady even offered to pay the deposit for the theatre nurse,  as soon as she found somewhere – an offer worth over £1000. Such generosity goes to show that the people of Cornwall really do care.

However, as with all happy stories, there is a downside.

As we approach the end of 2021 and move into 2022, the list of NHS staff looking for affordable rental homes, across Cornwall, is growing. Every day, we get email enquiries asking for a variety of rental homes, in a wide variety of locations from Penzance to Bodmin, from Wadebridge to Helston and everything in between.

We are working extremely closely with the RCHT. They have a “closed” Facebook page which staff can access and as son as we get a property, we give the RCHT the heads up and they post it on their Facebook page but for every property we get, we have 17, yes 17, NHS people looking and that number is only likely to grow as we move into January and February because that is when NHS staff in holiday lets are asked to vacate so the landlord can re-let for the holiday market.

To list the properties we need on here would be too long and, quite frankly, out of date as soon as we post this article because NHS staff requirements change daily. All we can say for certain is that we will need affordable rental homes, in Cornwall, for many months to come. This crisis, and it is a crisis, will continue for some time to come but it is solvable. With help from local councillors, MP’s and other like-minded estate agencies, we can find the accommodation these deserving people need.

As a landlord, it makes total sense to choose NHS staff as tenants, even on a reduced rent. They are, invariably, long-term tenants so you have no void period, with no income, therefore you have no new set-up fees for a new tenancy and, because their salaries are “guaranteed” by the NHS, you know they won’t go down.

If you’re an NHS worker, looking for a rental home you can afford, we would ask that you consider sharing. If your budget is, hypothetically, £500pcm, you will struggle to find somewhere, but if you share, then £1000pcm opens up so many possibilities.

The RCHT have all our contact details but in case you can’t access the Facebook page, we can be contacted on 01637 787708 (Camel) and 01872 222112 (Homequest).

Sadly, this problem is not restricted to Cornwall. We have had calls from Somerset, Devon, Buckinghamshire and Essex. All we can do is help those people who have helped us these past years and will help us long into the future. Our Property Manager, Phil Norgan, used a phrase on TV and we think it sums up the crisis.

” None of us want to be in hospital. it’s not something we aspire to, but if we are in hospital, wouldn’t we like to know that the people caring for us are not thinking about where they will sleep that evening?”

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