Landlords could get cash to help do up properties

LANDLORDS in Barry and Penarth could be given the chance to apply for council cash help to spruce up their properties.

Vale of Glamorgan Council is considering giving financial assistance, in the form of loans or grants, to either give face-lifts to homes or to make them safe and warm.

The council wants make grants available to help landlords freshen up the front of properties in main routes through the two towns – in Windsor Road in Penarth, and Paget Road and Broad Street in Barry.

New “lifetime loans” for landlords to make their properties safe and warm are also being proposed by the council.

The council wants to spruce up the frontages of properties at ‘renewal schemes’ proposed at 100 to 160, 164 to 172, 155 and 157 to 163 Windsor Road, 2 to 7 and 10 to 12 Paget Road and two-storey Broad Street Parade in Barry.

Typical work would include renewing gutters and drainpipes and fascias, stone and brick cleaning, and replacing doors and windows. The schemes in Barry would aim at regenerating residential properties, but not for shop fronts.

Owners would not be able to alter the work done for five years after it’s completed – or else they would have to pay all the money back. It builds on similar schemes in the Castleland area of Barry, where 1,162 properties were refurbished by the end of 2016/17, and the upper section of Holton Road, where 27 shop fronts were renewed. The renewal schemes are joint funded by the council and Welsh Government.

New interest-free “lifetime loans” of up to £25,000 would be available to owner occupiers throughout the Vale who cannot afford to carry out works to make their properties safe, warm and secure.

The lifetime loans would be repayable only when the property is sold or transferred, the death of the applicant or if the applicant stops occupying the property whichever is earlier. Owner occupiers are already able to access loans to carry out basic repairs to properties – but they have to be repaid after five years.

The council also provides loans to landlords to renovate empty properties and bring them back into use through renting or selling within a fixed period.

The council’s cabinet will be asked to approve the plans, as part of its Housing Regeneration Policy, on Monday. If approved, it will start from August 6.