"Intermediate Rent": What do you think?

Supporting Communities is preparing questions about ‘Intermediate Rent’ through The Amp, our community survey series. We want to find out what you think about bringing in this new tenancy option for Northern Ireland.

What is Intermediate Rent and Why is it Needed?

We know private rented housing in Northern Ireland is not working for many people for a range of reasons such as security of tenure, affordability, and quality of housing. There also aren’t enough social homes for those who want them leaving many paying a large percentage of their income on private rentals.

The Department for Communities is looking at a new way to help people rent good-quality, affordable housing with longer periods of a secure tenancy. It is called “Intermediate Rent.”

Intermediate Rent could, in the future, be a housing option for people who want to rent but are unlikely to be able to get social housing or who are trying to save to buy their own home.

The rent would be more than you would pay for social housing but less than you would pay to a private landlord. The time period you sign up to rent would be longer than a typical private rental, but not for the very long-term, like a social home.

Intermediate Rent is also referred to as ‘affordable rent’, ‘mid-market rent’, and ‘cost rental’ in other places. Models of this kind have been working across the UK and Ireland for some time but have yet to be provided in the housing market here.

Take the Survey: Join the Amp

Supporting Communities will be issuing a very short survey on this topic to get feedback from our Amp Members. All registered Amp members will be eligible to win a £30 voucher if they complete the survey!

If you would like to join the Amp and take this survey, sign up today! You can register in just a few minutes here: https://supportingcommunities.org/the-amp-registration

We think Intermediate Rent is an interesting prospect and look forward to learning more about it as plans progress. We will share the results of our survey with the Department for Communities to enhance their formal consultation.

Full Consultation

If you would also like to respond to the Department for Communities’ full consultation, which goes into more detail, please do!

It is open until 14 January here: https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/consultations/consultation-intermediate-rent-development-policy-and-model