Our service

Reasons to choose homes for Reading

As well as a great home, we provide customers with a high quality and responsive service, with a dedicated management and maintenance team on call 24 hours a day.

Established in 2016, Homes for Reading Limited (HfR) is a professional and responsible private residential landlord wholly owned by Reading Borough Council.  HfR’s ‘housing offer’ is completely separate and different to that of the Council – HfR is simply funded by the Council.

HfR’s ambition is to provide new standards for private renters by setting ourselves apart from other landlords. We do this by designing and providing good quality private rental homes that meet the needs and aspirations of modern renters; and providing our customers with a ‘peace of mind’ service that compliments and makes their lives easier.

We are an ethical company and the surpluses we generate from our operations go towards improving housing and driving improvements in the local private rental market. As part of our business mission, HfR aims to offer a proportion of its homes at a sub-market value.

This discount is provided by HfR with the intention of offering greater choice and access to more affordable private rental housing.

No middleman

When you rent with HfR you deal with us directly. Our dedicated lettings team will help you find your new home and on top of this we won’t charge you any agency fees or renewal fees.

Dedicated and friendly service

We’re committed to delivering exceptional service. We have a dedicated Property Management Team to deal with any issues or faults and provide you with peace of mind throughout your tenancy.

Flexibility and security

Stay as long as you choose when you rent with HfR. We offer flexible tenancy terms, starting from 12 months. If you prefer to stay longer that’s not a problem for us. We believe in stability and putting down roots. As a professional landlord we are here for you to do just that. In fact, it makes us happy if you want to stay longer!

A secure home with no surprises

We treat customers fairly, operate ethically and pride ourselves in our honesty.

We undertake a rigorous health and safety check before you move into your home and provide a full introduction to your home and show you how the features work.

We’ll undertake a regular maintenance check on all fixtures and fittings and you can request a repair via our online form.

We also protect your money, as your deposit will be secured through MyDeposit which is a Government approved Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme.

Repairs and maintenance

Whatever type of home you are renting from us, HfR ensures your property is to a high quality. As part of our quality assurance process, we inspect and prepare the property before letting, undertaking checks on:

• the structure and exterior
• the sinks, baths, toilets and showers
• heating and hot water installations
• gas installations and appliances provided with the tenancy
• electrical systems and appliances provided with the tenancy

Should your property need a repair at any point during your tenancy we provide customers with a high quality and responsive service accessible online or through our dedicated Property Management Team who are on call 24 hours a day. Request a repair via our online form.

A landlord you can trust

We want to set new standards for renters by setting ourselves apart from other Landlords. As such we are not like other independent landlords. HfR is a professional landlord you can trust. We have a stable investment basis that promotes continuity and because we have experts across our organisation we know what we are doing and more importantly we know what our customers value.

We provide our customers with a reliable and quality service.  We listen to feedback and we’re also pet friendly.