Holiday let venture for Bath’s largest social housing landlord Curo
Bath’s largest social housing landlord is branching out into catering for the city’s tourists with a new selection of holiday flats.
Curo has opened its first holiday let – a one-bedroom flat in Sydney Place – which comes fully furnished with a television and DVD player, wi-fi, iPod docking station, a fitted kitchen, private garden and its own parking space.
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Victor da Cunha, Curo chief executive, and Alexa Voisey from Bath Holiday Rentals, launch Curo’s new holiday let
The one-bedroom ground-floor flat is available for a week’s rental for between £550 and £700, or for a three-night stay for between £360 and £450.
Chief executive of Curo, Victor da Cunha, said the conversion was about making the most of properties, which were no longer suitable for social housing.
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He said the flat’s layout and the cost of heating it all year round made it impractical for tenants on low incomes.
Mr da Cunha said: “Bath’s status as a top city break destination has enabled Curo to explore whether, by using a small number of our properties as holiday lets – properties otherwise earmarked for disposal – we can generate income to re-invest in building much-needed, modern and affordable homes for local people.
“If this project is successful it will mean we can avoid selling properties which would otherwise not be viable for Curo to retain.”
The flat has already had its first guests and has received a four-star Gold Standard by Quality in Tourism, the assessment service for Visit England.
Mr da Cunha said the charity planned to convert five of its properties into holiday lets over the next two years, and added that they could be used to help train people wanting to pursue a future in tourism.
He said: “Because we are a charity with a wider social purpose, this project is also about generating opportunities and training for local people.
“To that end we are already working with City of Bath College to see how we can broaden this project so it provides young local people with an opportunity to enter the tourism industry.”
Curo is responsible for 12,000 homes across the west.
26 Comments
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by hardpushed
Tuesday, April 30 2013, 12:47PM
“I do wish the Chron would keep up with important stories like this - Curo have already expanded this scheme with now 25 holiday lets from council stock. And 84 properties now on the open rental market.”
by hardpushed
Tuesday, April 30 2013, 12:43PM
“I do wish the Chron would keep up with important stories like this - already Curo have expanded this operation to include 25 properties from council stock.”
by Markus2
Friday, March 15 2013, 9:19AM
“I agree with Fabio, 'unheard of' is about right. But from what I'm hearing there's a LOT more to whats going on at Curo. Gone with the name change is any mention of community. Gone is a lot of respect many staff had for senior management. Gone is a sense of pride or purpose about what theyre doing. How can any social housing organisation be proud of this, it's utterly, utterly ridiculous and indicative of a Curo culture gone badly wrong. I feel for thedecent people who work there, for tenants and how Bath's housing is being being overseen. Happy holidays!”
by Markus2
Friday, March 15 2013, 9:19AM
“I agree with Fabio, 'unheard of' is about right. But from what I'm hearing there's a LOT more to whats going on at Curo. Gone with the name change is any mention of community. Gone is a lot of respect many staff had for senior management. Gone is a sense of pride or purpose about what theyre doing. How can any social housing organisation be proud of this, it's utterly, utterly ridiculous and indicative of a Curo culture gone badly wrong. I feel for thedecent people who work there, for tenants and how Bath's housing is being being overseen. Happy holidays!”
by nogginthenog
Tuesday, March 12 2013, 11:14PM
“Curo is getting beyond its remit as a charity. This is a risky venture. These properties should be sold off to people who are willing and able to pay for the cost of the upkeep of a Georgian apartment. There are plenty of people wanting to buy a Georgian flat near to Pulteney St. The money can then be invested risk free in building new homes or buying back previously sold off council houses to house those requiring social housing.
Do they not see the irony of taking homes for holiday lets away from the stock of permanent homes of all types for Bath residents?”
by nogginthenog
Tuesday, March 12 2013, 11:13PM
“Curo is getting beyond its remit as a charity. This is a risky venture. These properties should be sold off to people who are willing and able to pay for the cost of the upkeep of a Georgian apartment. There are plenty of people wanting to buy a Georgian flat near to Pulteney St. The money can then be invested risk free in building new homes or buying back previously sold off council houses to house those requiring social housing.
Do they not see the irony of taking homes for holiday lets away from the stock of permanent homes of all types for Bath residents?”
by Fabio1
Tuesday, March 12 2013, 10:30PM
“I am frankly gob smacked reading this story. How can a 'social landlord' who incidentally acquired virtually all of it's housing stock from the local council, deprive Bath residents who are on the housing waiting list, of homes and instead rent these out to tourists? I think it's unheard of. Surely this may contravene regulations that social landlords must abide by?
Furthermore, Curo/Somer would have spent thousands of pounds refurbishing these flats, as seen in the picture. How many council flats rented out to 'ordinary' tenants look like the one in this picture? None.
Also, Curo will be paying the holiday letting agent around 20-30% of the rent and this doesn't even include cleaning and maintenance costs.
Finally, it will be interesting to see how 'ordinary' Curo tenants & tourist guests 'interact' if they cross paths within the same building.
Immoral, unnecessary, shameful. Shame on you Somer, sorry Curo.”
by jonquil
Saturday, March 09 2013, 12:13PM
“I think the danger of Curo using up Georgian stock, is that all social housing, existing and new, will be on housing estates and ghettoised- if this is a word. Perhaps this is what Curo want. The Georgian housing if maintained well, should be no colder than ordinary houses, they unfortunately have no gas supply and rely on storage heating, but cannot imagine anyone turning up their nose at one if you need housing, much better than on an estate.”
by Vathek
Saturday, March 09 2013, 10:34AM
“Not only does this go against everything Curo should actually stand for, but the CEO's reasoning for it is laughable. A handful of properties are going to help 'train people wanting to pursue a future in tourism.' Really? It's nothing but a smokescreen.
How much investment has gone into this shameful enterprise? If Curo hopes to generate
income to 're-invest in building much-needed, modern and affordable homes for local people' the obvious question is, when exactly is that going to happen?
When will Curo's tenants see a return on this? How open and transparent will Curo be about that? Not very, I suspect.”
by bath1946
Friday, March 08 2013, 10:57PM
“DerekHole has hit the nail on the head. Curo should be concentrating on repairing the backlog of maintenance issues strongly criticised by the auditor instead of expanding into the more glamourous areas of sales and now holiday lets. Despite all the publicity Curo has not thrown off the cloak of dissatisfaction left by Somer - same staff just uglier uniforms.”