Step by step rental guide

NHS England in the South West created a short document which provides practical and easy to understand advice on finding and renting a property in England. It includes an overview of your rights as a tenant and what you should expect from your landlord when you rent a property, as well as some useful links. It is available to all healthcare staff.

• Step by step guide to renting property in the UK

Accommodation options

Homestay

The commercial room booking website, Homestay, has created a secure area for healthcare staff to advertise a spare room to rent, or for staff and students to search for a room to rent. The area allows healthcare staff to identify someone to share accommodation where they have the same interests and allows for both short and longer term lettings.

The government ‘Rent a room’ scheme allows householders to earn up to £7,500 per annum from renting a room, but we would advise that if you want to rent a room out, you confirm that you are able to do so under the terms of your lease/mortgage and whether this affects your personal tax or any benefits.

If you are interested, you can sign up to the platform where arrangements are made directly between the host and the person searching for accommodation. This suits individuals, rather than couples or families.

Go to nhs.homestay.com to sign up and list or search accommodation.

Homeshare

This internationally recognised concept is where someone who would benefit from having someone live with them (perhaps they are a single older person, or a person with a medical condition) shares their property with a person who agrees to provide some support and companionship and they are ‘matched’ by the Homeshare organisation.

No personal care is provided and the level of support/companionship can vary between 3 and 20 hours per week, but some amazing friendships have been created between the householder and the person staying with them.

A number of homeshare organisations are available around England, but the Homeshare Association provides national coverage including Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

If you are interested, you can contact Homeshare organisations for further details. Matches are normally 6 months or more and suit individuals, rather than couples or families.

Go to Homeshare opportunities where the member organisations regularly update their homeshare opportunities.