The Mayor of London has launched a new online property portal that offers home buyers in London a one stop shop where they can search for an affordable property in the capital. As the Mayor’s official platform for finding an affordable home to buy in London, the Homes for Londoners portal already lists over 1,400 shared ownership and 230 Help to Buy properties. Currently in its first phase, the portal aims to help Londoners who can’t afford to buy a home on the open market, with all homes funded through City Hall affordable housing programmes being advertised on the site and new properties being continually added. The Mayor is urging Londoners to visit london.gov.uk/homes to sign up for free and register an account, through which they can receive email alerts for the latest properties in their area, register their interest in homes, check their eligibility, book viewings and receive an online financial affordability assessment. ‘Here at City Hall, we’re doing everything we can to make sure all Londoners are able to buy a good-quality, affordable place to live in the city to call home,’ said Mayor Sadiq Khan. ‘The Homes for Londoners website is a fantastic one-stop shop, bringing together affordable homes into one place for people who would struggle to buy in the open market. More and more homes will be added to the portal, so I urge Londoners to get online, set up a free account, and start browsing,’ he added. According to Louise Marshall, head of sales and marketing at Moat Housing, the portal is clean, fresh and easy to use. She singled out that the Featured Properties section because it gives providers the opportunity to showcase their homes. ‘The portal’s support team are incredibly helpful and supportive and really try to tailor their service to suit the needs of their clients. It’s also good value for us, as we are able to reach a huge target market. I’d definitely recommend the portal to other housing providers as a great place to showcase their homes, there’s a huge demand out there,’ she said. Tomas Rakauskas, who has reserved a home through the portal at Kidbrooke Village in Greenwich, said he found it simple to use. ‘The search functionality is great. The housing associations details were easy to find, so arranging a property viewing was straightforward. The housing association also recommended mortgage providers and solicitors which helped us a lot in the process. I’d highly recommend using the Homes for Londoners portal,’ he added. The portal will list genuinely affordable homes to buy that have been built through the Mayor’s Homes for Londoners programme. In 2017/2018 his programme saw 12,526 genuinely affordable homes started, more than in any year since City Hall took control of housing investment. Around half these homes were for affordable home ownership, alongside 2,826 new homes based on social rent levels, up from zero homes for social rent in the pipeline inherited from the previous Mayor. Further phases of the portal will launch later this year, including below market rental properties. The portal is on the Mayor’s website alongside his new online Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker, a publicly accessible tool to enable London’s 2.4 million renters to check if their prospective landlord or agent has been convicted of any housing offences, and to report any suspected rogue private landlord or letting agent to their local council.
The Mayor of London has launched an online service to help people search for affordable homes in the capital. The Homes for Londoners site is in its first phase and contains listings for 1,400 shared ownership and 230 Help to Buy properties, along with all affordable homes funded by City Hall programmes. Later phases, to be launched this year, will add below market rent properties. Users can register their interest and receive email alerts for available properties, then use the portal to check their eligibility, receive a financial affordability assessment and book viewings.