Sheffield Council to fund loans for landlords to improve homes with poor heating and hazards

Loans offered to landlords in Wakefield and Ryedale will amount to about £175,000 over the next financial year, thanks to a homes and loans schemes operated by Sheffield Council.

Wakefield homeowners will get in total £150,000, divided into £12,500 each, money which Wakefield Council had to bid for from its own capital funds after it spent all its previous allocation from the scheme.

This money will be transferred into Sheffield's scheme, which will administer the loans to help with things like repairs.

Ryedale Council in North Yorkshire is also benefiting from the scheme and will get a total of £25,000 in loans. Each eligible landlord is expected to get about £5,000 each, depending on the work needed.

Council officers said it helps the councils reach their targets for improving living conditions for renters.

They said: “There is an ongoing requirement to address affordable warmth and excess cold issues for tenants in private rented housing stock and this is an opportunity to address this problem now to prevent further deterioration in privately owned tenanted properties.”

The interest-free loans will be repaid directly to Sheffield Council in monthly instalments over 12 months to five years, depending on the amount borrowed.

The repayments will then be recycled to provide loans to other landlords and in the future these councils may bid for further funding.

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