Scottish lettings portal East Hub Home Choice has issued the following statement, which Eye is happy to publish in full:
The East and Central Scotland Housing Advice Hub* has been considering concerns expressed in Property Industry Eye, and elsewhere, about its new ‘Home Choice’ private lets portal.
Unfortunately, certain misunderstandings have emerged about the function of the portal, which the Hub wishes to correct. The central misunderstanding is that the local authorities who have set up the website are running it for profit and competing against commercially run portals.
In reality the site is free to landlords, agents and tenants and has been set up with a specific purpose – to fulfil the statutory obligations of local authorities to provide housing information and advice.
The portal is designed to connect with other council initiatives aimed at offering Housing Options advice and offers important housing related information. This includes for example, advice about Local Housing Allowance levels, nearby amenities and the laws surrounding rental deposits.
The site is closely allied to the main East Hub website, which is dedicated to helping people explore their housing options in all tenures.
The site is maintained on behalf of the Hub by a company called Localpad, which provides the software to advertise properties for let and to search for them.
Localpad was contracted to provide this service to the Hub during a competitive tendering process, preceded by demonstrations of suitable software systems given by a range of potential providers. The Hub specified the software functionality required in its tender documents.
Home Choice will be used when council advisors are discussing the options available to people in housing need, and especially extreme need, such as through homelessness. It is possible to link to and from commercial portals.
We do not consider Home Choice to be in competition with them. It will be used alongside sites such as Right Move and Citylets, to ensure clients are fully advised about what is available.
We are aware of misunderstandings that include the following:
- Only landlords not agents can advertise. The site is open to all, and we are happy to link it to commercial portals, as well.
- Local authorities s are misusing their Landlord Registration Databases to promote the site. We are not promoting the site to landlords, other than to inform them of its availability, which falls within our remit. We are in contact with landlords about relevant local issues all the time, and this is one of them.
- Data is not secure and may be used by third parties. Each council is data controller for the data relevant to its own area. The site Terms and Conditions state that data will only be used for the purposes of the site and none other.
- Councils are using their property portal to extend their influence over the private lettings industry. Our only interest is in maximising the opportunities local people have to find a home best suited to them. We are not asking landlords for any more information than they have to provide already to secure landlord registration. We are not vetting landlords or tenants. Local Authorities’ powers in Registration and Environmental Health will continue to be exercised, regardless of the existence of the portal.
- Councils are benefitting financially from this service. We are neither benefiting from it financially (there is no fee) nor are we (currently) contributing to it. The set-up and maintenance costs for the next couple of years have been paid by the Scottish government.
- Localpad is the real owner of the site and will benefit financially. Localpad does not ‘own’ the site and does not control the data – other than its proprietary software. The Hub has paid Localpad to develop the site and to maintain it, but full control remains with East and Central Scotland Housing Advice Hub. The Hub could have chosen another provider, and has the option to do so again, when the current contract expires in 2017. The service could be provided by a number of commercial software houses, for example ‘Abritas’ or ‘letshelpyou’ – or even a commercial property portal. The decision on any further contract will be taken by the local authorities on Best Value principles, through a competitive tendering process.
Landlords, agents and portal companies may have other concerns in addition to these and we are very happy to enter into dialogue to explore whether these are issues of substance and if so, to consider changes that may be made to accommodate their concerns.
We welcome the opportunity to meet with any parties specialising in private lets, to reassure them and to establish how we can use the Home Choice site to help them grow their business, as well as allowing us better to fulfil our statutory duties.
The East and Central Scotland Housing Advice government, tasked with improving access to housing and preventing homelessness across the country. The East Hub includes six local authorities, Edinburgh, East, West and Mid Lothian, Falkirk and the Scottish Borders.
It is engaged on a variety of projects, some seeking to improve the way councils work, others to provide a better service for customers needing information and advice about housing and homelessness. The Hub runs two websites. The main East Hub site offers detailed information about Housing Options, across an area stretching from Falkirk to Hawick that contains more than a million Scottish households.
* The East and Central Scotland Housing Advice Hub is is one of five groups of councils created by the Scottish government, tasked with improving access to housing and preventing homelessness across the country. The East Hub includes six local authorities, Edinburgh, East, West and Mid Lothian, Falkirk and the Scottish Borders.
It is engaged on a variety of projects, some seeking to improve the way councils work, others to provide a better service for customers needing information and advice about housing and homelessness. The Hub runs two websites. The main East Hub site offers detailed information about Housing Options, across an area stretching from Falkirk to Hawick that contains more than a million Scottish households.
Comments (3)
I really cannot understand the issue with this, especially as it gives landlords and agents the opportunity to advertise for free.
Similarly I fail to see the problem with a local authority, having a vested interest in the sector, providing services to help not only home hunters but also service staff. Liecestershire have seen great success with this particular model – http://www.homefinder.uk.com/Housing – and what this ‘north of the border’ site offers is no different.
I can see issues for agents who may well risk losing apt clients who realise that they can actually manage the rental of their property themselves on this site, but the Home Choice does not appear to set out for this purpose. I have had a look and the site is in fact linked to a wider housing options site, aimed at actually helping people to ‘diagnose’ their housing issue(s) and seek a solution.
If this site were not to incorporate the ‘whole market’, then which market should it be targeting? Those on low incomes or at risk of homelessness? So, those befitting that neat category do not have the right to explore the whole market? If Mr Foreman is suggesting the portal should exist specifically for low income households, surely that is just advocating a poverty gap, when financial inclusion features fairly highly on the government’s agenda. Similarly it is worth noting that approximately two thirds of our population are considered to be on a ‘low to modest’ incomes… surely this is a huge market-based issue.
Sure, there are a myriad of other contributing factors, some of which we can’t change (the free market nature of the private rented sector and Thatcher’s farcical Right to Buy movement), but so too have we seen the need for the private rented sector to face tougher scrutiny, especially when it comes to property condition (repairing standard and habitable tolerance) and, worryingly, landlords’ abuse of their custodian role in relation to tenancy deposits (a role which has, thankfully, been taken away from landlords).
Scotland is seeing a downward trend in homeless presentations, but an upward trend in the prevention of homelessness and housing advice. It is important to understand that homelessness, though likely to conjure up an image of a rough sleeper begging in a city centre, is a far broader issue – sleeping on a friends sofa, fleeing domestic violence, living in poor conditions (including overcrowded households), reaching an ISH date, discharge from hospital, loss of employment, leaving the armed forces… all could result in, and indeed meet the definition, of homelessness. When we break down the stigma it is easy to see not only the enormity and complexity of the issue, but that local authorities cannot possibly meet the demand in terms of accommodation. Prevention may lead to other tenures of accommodation and surely, in a ‘bigger picture’ context (despite the money-making opportunities for landlords in the private rented sector), we have a responsibility as a society to improve access to housing for those in need.
Working in the voluntary sector, I see (and have personally experienced) the ‘dark side’ of the private rented sector, the greed, the lack of empathy, the ignorance… this is becoming a different debate altogether. Quite simply, I do not see the problem with this site, and those who do “question the wisdom” should clearly outline their reasons… honestly. Even if they wanted to, the local authority could not impose control over the private rented sector (which is a pity as, despite the moans and groans from the consensus, it seems to work pretty well in Europe, particularly in Switzerland where I have lived).
The Housing Act will surely pave the way to addressing disparity within the private rented sector, but I don’t think the Home Choice is a threat, nor do I think it hides some sinister motive and I will actively support its’ development and utilise its content with my clients.
Dear TenantFinder,
Your post encourages helpful debate and touches on issues that go to the heart of how the PRS is viewed by different groups with different interests and different political sympathies.
Modern PRS landlords are increasingly difficult to define. Certainly they include bankers and entrepreneurs, but these days they also include social workers, voluntary sector workers, MSP’s and retired grannies. They all want the best tenants possible who will look after their property and provide a regular income which will help them put their own bread on the table. We all tend to have the ability to exercise self-interest where it relates to our own finances and the private rented sector is no more inherently good or bad than any other sector.
Given that extending the PRS is the most financially realistic method of increasing housing options I favour working out how to match landlords reasonable desire for a positive property ownership experience with the needs of low income households and families. This will likely involve more than one form of PRS tenancy and significant landlord incentives in some cases to drive investment into less popular sectors of the market. I do not see any practical or realistic solutions emerging currently.
Regulation is also extremely important and debate to find the right balance will no doubt run forever. Perhaps I have seen the local authority portals as more political than they actually are. The combined internal and external costs to run an effective property portal are however extensive and therefore opinion will inevitably tend to be divided.
It would be good to hear the views of others.
These same “misunderstandings” have resulted in a change to the Terms and Conditions on the site from this:
Any content you upload to our Site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary and we have the right to use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any such content for any purpose.
to this:
Landlords’ and Agents’ details will be used solely for the purposes of East and Central Scotland Home Choice and none other. Each local authority is the Data Controller for its own area.
I am not aware of any agents who thought that they could not advertise on the site. I am however aware of several who question the wisdom of a local authority operating a whole of market property portal with Scottish Government funding allocated to local authorities to help reduce homelessness.