News Archives - Capital Letters

A cross-party group of MPs, Peers and housing organisations including Capital Letters, has written to the housing minister to call for urgent action to bring over a quarter of a million long term empty homes back into use.

There are 265,000 homes in England that have been vacant for over 6 months, and at the same time there are over 123,000 households who are living in expensive temporary accommodation funded through local councils.

The letter follows a recent parliamentary roundtable on empty homes chaired by Paula Barker MP. During this, 5 actions were identified that would help to bring long-term empty homes back into use, some of which can be quickly and easily implemented:

Increase Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) flexibility to enable a greater portion of the funding to be used to bring empty homes back into use – currently this is limited to 10% outside of London.
Reform Empty Homes Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) so that councils can use them to address empty homes after six months rather than two years.
Introduce a national empty homes strategy as part of the Government’s long-term housing strategy, due next year, and a contribution to the target to deliver 1.5m homes.
Establish a statutory duty for councils to undertake empty homes work.
Reform probate to end the situation whereby some properties are exempted from the Empty Homes Premium – an additional tax councils can charge on empty properties – indefinitely.

The Parliamentarians outline that empty homes can play a significant role in immediately addressing the housing supply crisis and addressing homelessness whilst the country scales up building more social and affordable homes.

Commenting, Paula Barker MP said:
“It is not right that so many properties are sitting empty when so many families are in desperate need of a home. We are urging the Government to drive action on empty homes as part of its long-term housing plans. This will enable more households to be supported into a secure home sooner.”

The full text of the letter can be found here.

The parliamentary roundtable was supported by the housing not-for-profit Capital Letters and homelessness charity Crisis. The letter has been signed by 19 MPs and Peers and organisations including The Empty Homes Network and Action on Empty Homes.

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new property lettings and management agency, offering landlords a professional, ethical, and comprehensive range of services, including:

Comprehensive marketing to find the right tenant
Tenant references and right to rent checks
Utility transfers
Deposit claim negotiation, compilation and submission
24-hour emergency service helpline
24/7 access to online property management portal

…and so much more!

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Our agency provides a competitive and transparent alternative in the property market, ensuring a fairer experience for both landlords and tenants. By addressing key pain points in traditional lettings, we aim to set a new standard for property management—one rooted in fairness, integrity, and social impact.

Erol Hussein MARLA, our Letting Manager, underscores the agency’s commitment to ethical practices:

“There are no hidden fees, no surprises—what we say is what we do. We value the landlords who trust us with their properties and care deeply about the tenants who will call these properties home. Our goal is to create a process that works for everyone. By eliminating rent bidding wars, we ensure that the asking rent is always the final rent, making the process more transparent and stress-free for tenants while giving landlords peace of mind”.

One of the key distinctions of our agency is its not-for-profit model, which directly supports our mission to help families experiencing homelessness. This unique approach allows us to channel resources into meaningful initiatives while providing landlords with the high-quality services they need.

Amy Cowan, our Head of Acquisitions and Tenancy Sustainment and the leader of this initiative explains:

“At Capital Letters, our mission has always been about ending homelessness and supporting vulnerable families. The launch of this agency is an extension of that work. Every penny of profit from the agency is reinvested into funding our core programs, enabling us to reach even more families in need. This isn’t just about lettings; it’s about creating a ripple effect of positive change. By working with us, landlords not only gain access to a professional, competitively priced lettings and management service but also directly contribute to a cause that changes lives.”

She continues:

“Unlike traditional agencies, we have no shareholders to satisfy or large marketing budgets to maintain. Our focus is entirely on delivering value to landlords while supporting families in need. A landlord’s business is important to us, and by choosing to work with our agency, they can run their business effectively while making a tangible impact on society.”

This new agency is more than a service provider—it’s a socially conscious alternative for landlords who want to combine ethical values with professional property management. Together, we can redefine what it means to manage properties while making a meaningful difference in the lives of families experiencing homelessness.

If you’re a landlord looking for a professional, reliable, and socially impactful solution, we invite you to join us in this exciting initiative. Let’s create a better future—one property at a time.

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We welcome the announcement from Angela Rayner that £500m will ‘top-up’ the affordable homes programme, enabling councils and Housing Associations to fund the building of more social homes. However, there needs to be greater recognition that building alone will not solve the housing crisis in the short and medium term.

In urban environments where space is at a premium and costs are high, we need increased funding for Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates and measures to keep good landlords in the Private Rented Sector.

London Boroughs collectively spend £114m a month on temporary accommodation (TA) for the 65,000 households who are experiencing homelessness. That figure is increasing month on month and building new homes will not solve this any time soon.

In April ’24 the last Conservative Government increased Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to return it to the level it should have been – covering the lowest 30% of an areas rental market. It was both immediately frozen, and immediately outpaced by rent inflation. In London 5% of homes advertised for rent are now affordable on LHA rates – 7 months after the increase.

At the end of the last parliament the Renter’s Reform Bill died as the election was called, and it’s now been resurrected as the Renter’s Rights Bill, which is all but identical. We completely support the bill and agree that the PRS needs to have greater protections for renters and landlords; however, it comes at a time when smaller landlords, who are more likely to rent to households at the lower end of the market (i.e using LHA), are leaving the sector. The drain began because of the economics, the fiscal environment, the post Truss mortgage rates on buy-to-lets, the maturing of a lot of buy-to-let products, but continues as it looks more difficult and costly to be an ’accidental’ landlord – those who may have inherited property and wanted to use it for income. The PRS sector is shrinking as a result.

It’s not just costly to be a small landlord, but it feels increasingly hostile – as borne out by recent London Councils, Trust for London and Savills research.

Yes, we need to build, let’s get homes for everyone that needs them, but that’s a multi-year, multi-parliament project, even with expedited planning, and grant allocation, and building we are years away from making a significant dent on the waiting lists let alone the 117,450 households currently experiencing homelessness and living in TA in the UK. And it relies on a construction industry that is ready to step up to the challenge.

We need to have an annual increase in LHA rates to get families out of TA. We need to incentivise smaller landlords to stay in the sector, with tax breaks and with help to implement the Renter’s Rights Bill provisions. We need to recognise that smaller landlords, more likely to let to those claiming LHA, are a hugely important piece of a housing journey. We need to create the right environment that encourages others to enter the PRS market to increase the number of homes available and chip away at the thousands of households that are languishing in TA.

Capital Letters, the unique socially responsible not-for-profit owned by London boroughs has taken over management of 18 properties seized from a rogue landlord by member borough Merton Council.

The 18 properties were subject to an ‘Interim Management Order’ when Merton Council ascertained that they were un-licenced and that there was no reasonable prospect of the tenancies being licenced soon.

Capital Letters will manage the properties on behalf of the council, with a focus on bringing the properties up to a safe standard.

Elizabeth Harper Capital Letters’ Director of Operations said “It’s both exciting to help one of our member boroughs take this bold step and distressing to know that tenants were living in dangerous unlicensed homes.

“Capital Letters is a landlord in our own right, so we have the expertise, the systems, and the knowledge to be able to manage these properties and ensure that they are made safe and brought up to standard.”

“Our unique position strengthens our member’s ability to issue Interim Management Orders, by working with Merton Council we are showing our member boroughs that we are ready to step in and ensure Londoners have a safe, secure, and good quality home.”

The Interim Management Order will remain in place for 12 months.

Did you know that last year the whole of Belfast was either threatened with homelessness or already homeless?

OK, not actually Belfast – but 324,990 households in the UK, which is about the same size as Belfast. That’s half a Glasgow, most of a Cardiff, most of a Croydon, 70% of a Leicester, nearly 2 Readings, 2 Cheltenham’s, or 141 Chalfont-St-Giles’s…

A whole Belfast is owed a duty – meaning their local authority must help, prevent, or relieve homelessness.

That could mean finding Temporary Accommodation… but there’s already a full Rotherham in Temporary Accommodation!

From March 2023 to March 2024, these figures have increased by 92% year on year.

We work with our member London boroughs to find secure, safe, affordable, and good quality homes for households in Temporary Accommodation.

But we need a cross-departmental national strategy for Temporary Accommodation and Homelessness, because if we see another 92% increase…

We’re going for a full Manchester.

Last year there were 11,880 no-fault evictions in London, an increase of 52% year-on-year.

Based on average occupancy, 27,000 people have been made homeless or put at risk of homelessness in the last year.

That’s enough people to fill half of the Emirates Stadium, or all of The Oval.

There are currently more than 83,000 children living in Temporary Accommodation (TA) in London, and every year, as no-fault evictions rise, that number rises.

All parties must commit to banning “Section 21” no-fault evictions.

No-fault evictions are the biggest cause of homelessness and cost untold amounts in expensive and often inappropriate TA, extra health and education support, extra benefits paid as people struggle to keep jobs, not to mention the reduction in taxes, possibly over a potential lifetime, as employment outcomes worsen for the children stuck in inappropriate and insecure housing.

This isn’t just a “now” problem, for some it becomes a “forever” problem.

Families need a secure foundation to build their best lives, and “Section 21” no-fault evictions take that away.

London rents rose by over 10% in the last 12 months according to the Office of National Statistics.

Whilst this is less than the previous month’s figure of 11%, it remains a significant indication of the pressure London housing is under.

Average rent is now just under £25,000 a year, and the average household income is just over £32,000 a year. There is an obvious difficulty in those numbers – an average family paying the average rent will have, on average, £7,000 a year left over for everything else…

The rental system in London is broken, and that’s where Capital Letters comes in. For the last 6 years we have been building the foundations of a new system that prioritises ethical practice, and societal good – helping Londoners who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness to build lives in secure, stable, affordable and good quality homes.

In the next 2 years, working with our partner Home Safe Housing, we will be providing up to 2,500 homes that our member London boroughs can use to move Londoners out of insecure and poor quality temporary accommodation or provide a home for those threatened with homeless.

And in this new system, everyone wins…

Boroughs save taxpayers money and the wider public purse on the costs of expensive Temporary Accommodation (c£15,000 per annum per family), our investors receive both a financial return and social return on their investment, local areas benefit from refurbished and good quality homes, residents get an affordable, long term, secure, good quality home in which to build a brilliant life, and London benefits – more children get better education, more people are in better health, more people are settled and able to find work and support, costs for the NHS reduce and the cycle goes on.

We can only do this by being proudly not-for-profit, ethical, dynamic and socially responsible – because we know that a home changes everything.

We are proud to be recognised by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) as an organisation that is building the foundations for better lives in London.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report “Bringing private homes into social ownership can rewire the housing system” has recognised that the Capital Letters model can be part of the future for London housing.

The report says that…

“central and local governments working together to establish local housing companies in TA ‘hotspots’, which can purchase, retrofit and then let out homes for use as TA at more affordable rents, this would build on the model of Capital Letters…” can be part of reducing costs and raising standards.
“Bringing private homes into social ownership can rewire the housing system” by Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Our work, in a challenging and superheated London rental market, has resulted in over 6,500 homes being offered to our member boroughs meaning over 6,500 households have had the chance to leave temporary accommodation and build the foundation of a healthy and productive life by moving to a private rented home and putting down secure roots.

In the next 2 years Capital Letters in partnership with the housing charity Home Safe Housing will be investing £750m – the current size of the Local Authority Housing Fund – providing up to 2,500 refurbished, high quality rental homes for Londoners. Most of these homes will be offered at LHA rate to those who are experiencing homelessness and are in temporary accommodation.

Settled housing comes with a host of benefits, from improved educational results to improved health and wellbeing. This isn’t about saving money on TA, it’s about saving money in the NHS, in benefits, and increasing employment outcomes, so raising money on taxes, and empowering people to live their best lives.

The last few years have been extremely challenging supplying LHA rate homes. LHA up until April 2024 fell dramatically short of the 30% of local market rates that it was designed to cover, indeed on specific days in London it covered 0.2% of local market. Our inclusion in this report is a testament to the forward-thinking boroughs who created Capital Letters, and of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Capital Letters is a proud disruptor in the housing sector. Since we were founded Capital letters has pushed for systemic change to the way in which the housing and homelessness crisis is addressed, identifying solutions which will result in more homes for Londoners desperately need them.

We are already starting to rewire the housing system by partnering with private ESG investors to provide social and affordable homes as an ethical private landlord.