THE first wave of private rental stock has been released at Lower Broughton following a deal between Sigma Capital and its funder Gatehouse Bank Plc and Countryside Properties.
"There is nothing else comparable right now so the interest has been phenomenal"
66 three and four bed houses will be available for private rent, the initial phase of 927 properties at sites across the North West under the Difrent brand.
It is such an obvious link up that fills such an obvious gap in the market you can almost forgive the name.
The clusters of family sized homes, owned and retained by one investor, with longer leases and high standards of on-site maintenance and management offer good build quality and specification, and security of tenure.
It will be one of the first large scale PRS partnerships in the country and Gwynn Thomas, property investment director at Sigma, said:
"There are a lot of people who slip through the housing net. They cannot get a mortgage for the sort of place they want to live in and they don't meet the affordable housing criteria.
"When they look around there is not a lot of good quality family housing to rent and often maintenance and management are an issue.
"We want to change that."
Property kitchen
Eleven properties in the first phase (all already let) will be followed by eleven more each month for the next five months. Sites in Oldham and Rochdale as well as Norris Green will follow soon.
It's a decade since Countryside, in partnership with Salford City Council and Urban Vision, began the transformation of Lower Broughton, and despite the recession putting the brakes on for a while they have delivered 1,200 new houses, an apartment block with communal garden, a parade of shops, a new primary school, a park and a new street scene.
Most of the houses have been for sale with Contour providing affordable rentals and individual buy-to-let landlords offering some private rental stock. The apartments, completed just as the property world crashed, were bought by Places for People and are rented.
But 66 houses, built to the same standard as the sale properties (apart from the bathroom mirror and the depth of the work surface apparently) - bought for the long term and well managed - complete the housing mix available here.
Les Brown, from Countryside Properties has been at Lower Broughton since day one. He said: "The development partnership we signed with Salford ten years ago allows us to develop a mix of tenures and while the biggest element is still for sale large numbers of people want to rent. And they want to rent from one solid landlord that gives them security.
"They are also taking a 'buyers' approach to renting, wanting a high quality product and they often come to look at a two bed and end up renting a three because they can."
Guaranteed sales for the next six months will presumably allow Countryside to push on with its plans for Mocha Parade and more new housing closer to Manchester.
The houses are being let by Direct Lettings, part of the Shepherd Direct Group (no me neither...) and the director is Paul Staley who is obviously very happy to have houses available on the edge of the city from £795 a month. He said:
"There is nothing else comparable right now so the interest has been phenomenal. And they are really lovely properties, some with garages, all with built in wardrobes in the master bedroom, some with en-suite bathrooms and really great kitchens and living spaces with glass doors to the garden.
"They are a real alternative to renting a city flat."
Direct Lettings director Paul Staley
One of the first in was Darren Holmes who had been renting in the Green Quarter with girlfriend Amy for the last two years.
He said: "We seem to have acquired an awful lot of stuff and decided we needed more space and a garden.
"Our initial thought was to buy and we looked at different options, different locations like Timperley and Altrincham, but decided we wanted to be closer to the city.
"Then you realise that there is actually not that much with a garage and a garden. We went out to look at the houses at Beswick but really they are too far out and then we popped in to Lower Broughton wanting to buy.
"And whilst we like the older properties and quite fancied the idea of a bit of DIY we also love the fact that these are all brand new and sparkly and built to a very good standard.
"We had wanted to buy and take advantage of the Governments Help to Buy scheme but all the available houses had been snapped up by an investor and as time was tight we went for the rental option."
The couple are paying £825 for a three bedroom house with a garage and garden, compared to £795 for the two bed apartment in the Green Quarter.
They have signed up for twelve months after which they can renew but according to the tenancy agreement the rent is likely to rise from between 3-6%.
Darren said: "The idea is to rent here for a couple of years as they continue to develop and grow the area and see how we feel and if we are settled then we would look to buy.
"My girlfriend is from Manchester so knows all the negative history of the area but you can see how it has been transformed over the last ten years and every time we have been it feels great.
"Having said that there were gun shots on the road a few weeks back but that's not the norm any more.
"And it is refurbished areas like Lower Broughton, on the edge of town, that are increasingly going to be the solution for many young people who want the city lifestyle but also want more living space and a garden. It's only been three days but it's pretty good so far."
