Landlord Testimonial Video Dinesh Varsani

I’m Dinesh Varsani, I’ve been a landlord for about 15-16 years. I’ve got property in Harrow and Enfield, I started when I was 19. I think the first property I gave to Central Housing was in 2002 so I’ve been a landlord for about 13 years now.

I chose Central Housing Group as I was referred to them from someone and then basically I ended up giving all of my properties to Central Housing because they’re very professional, obviously the guaranteed rent scheme which has worked really well with the first few units I gave them. It made things a lot simpler for me. I was able to buy more properties because there was somebody reliable to come manage them for me.

I’ve used other guaranteed rent agents, I’ve been to what a lot of landlords go to – housing associations, initially years ago and I find Central Housing is the right size. I get a personal service, some of the staff I’ve been dealing with I think ever since I gave them my first property, I’ve always got a point of contact for repairs, maintenance, accounts.

I’ve got an excellent track record in terms of I’ve received all my rent, I always get my rent on time. I find it extremely fair, professional, and I’ve continued giving them property.

Yeah I mean I have quite a few properties so I have been approached by other agents. I’ve looked at other agents as well. I’ve been honest with them and I’ve told them that your service is excellent and to be honest with you, I’ve basically turned around looked at what they were offering and decided that Central Housing Group was still the preferred option for me.

I would recommend Central Housing Group to others because they’re very professional, they’re the right size, they’re not too big where they’ve got a turnover of staff so you’re not dealing with the same people, they’re very fair and I’ve had no problems with them for the last 10 years.

I have given my properties at the very beginning through housing benefit and the direct let scheme, I find the guaranteed rent scheme is far superior because I give the property to Central Housing for anything from three years I know that my money’s coming in every month, the property is managed, I do the work at the outset and I’m pretty much on a clear run for three years.

The guaranteed rent is lower than the private rent. I try and calculate what money I’m actually getting in my pocket so if I was to rent out my property privately I’d obviously be paying an agent a monthly fee and commission and then of course if the property is vacant I’d have lost a couple of months or in a worse scenario I could lose more than a few months rent if I have a tenant that doesn’t pay the rent or doesn’t vacate the property, so when I do my figures it’s almost a no-brainer to go for the guaranteed rent.

When I first started in property I was renting out my properties privately and I would have to chase the money with some tenants every month, they didn’t pay, they’re either not entitled to the housing benefit anymore and I had to evict them myself which is very costly, and of course during that time I don’t get the rent, I still have to pay my mortgage and, like with evictions the government and the courts are involved, not everything runs on time, so I just have no idea how long, I think it can take up to four, five, six months to evict a tenant.

The benefits of using Central Housing Group is that I’m getting guaranteed rent, I’m dealing with people who are very professional, I’m dealing with the same people over time, they know what they’re talking about. The staff at Central Housing they’re trained correctly, they know about property and they just work very well with me.

I previously had some of my properties with other agents that I’d given to them before I knew about Central Housing and the biggest difference is the level of professionalism in how the properties are managed. Central Housing carries out regular inspections and I have peace of mind that I’m adhering to all the health and safety regulations, and generally the properties are maintained throughout the term so with other agents I’ve noticed that maybe their staff are not as knowledgeable about property, they have a high turnover, they’re not akin with their properties that they manage, with Central Housing, always found that they know my property, they know the tenant and they deal with everything knowledgeably.