An estate agency in London has made the unusual move of setting up a dedicated operation to help social housing providers find homes for their tenants among its landlord client base.

Petermans, which has branches in Herne Hill, Edgware and West Dulwich and is a member of the Guild, has launched Housing Initiatives after a long period of planning and preparation, says MD Ben Moser (main image).

His company, which is a family business, says it wants to bring the social and affordable housing sectors together with the private rental one and contribute to solving the capital’s housing crisis.

“This has been a passion project of mine and one that we have been working on for a long time,” says Moser.

“The private rental sector has a huge role to play in our society. “Not only in providing housing for a huge section of the population, but also in changing mind-sets and preconceptions around housing social housing tenants into the modern day.”

Housing consultant Liz Williams, who has been working with Petermans to develop the service, says: “Meeting Ben was an absolute delight especially when it was clear a social conscience was driving a desire to produce effective rental solutions to the housing crisis.

Lost middle

“The estate agency and I especially share concerns over the ‘lost middle’ who are being put into temporary accommodation due to the lack of affordable housing supply.

“The initiative aims to address this and I believe Peterman’s model will assist both public and private sectors bring more homes back in to use.”

Wendy Peterman, and co-director Howard Peterman, add: “We have long-standing relationships in the private rental sector and feel that it is the perfect time to bring our expertise and knowledge to assist those on all sides of the debate surrounding social, affordable and secure housing!”.

Landlords interested in the initiative should visit its dedicated website.