Posts with tag: charity

‘Rumble with the Agents’ to raise funds for Inclusion Barnet

Published On: January 31, 2020 at 9:49 am

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Categories: Events,Landlord News,Lettings News

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Rumble with the Agents

Planning for this year’s Rumble with the Agents, a charity fundraiser hosted by Landlord Action and sponsored by Hamilton Fraser, is now underway.

The focus of this annual white-collar charity boxing event is to raise funds for Inclusion Barnet, a charity that provides vital support for those with a disability, including mental health issues and/or long-term health conditions.

Paul Shamplina, one of the key founders of Landlord Action, set the event up six years ago, running it alongside his wife Rita. He is now looking for ten individuals from the property sector to get involved and try their hand at boxing. Anyone interested should sign up by 7th February.

It’s free to take part and includes a fully structured and supervised boxing training program to ensure optimum physical fitness and teach participants the correct techniques will be provided by JA Boxing in north London.

Participants are not required to have any previous experience, just a desire to learn a new skill, get fit in three months and support an excellent local charity!

More information about Inclusion Barnet

Inclusion Barnet is a Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation (DDPO), which means that their staff and trustees have lived experience of disability, including mental health issues and long-term conditions.  They use their lived experience to raise awareness and educate society about the barriers faced by disabled people and how people can work together to remove those barriers. 

Those living with a disability often find it very hard to access the services and resources they need to help them live the life they want to live, which is where Inclusion Barnet provides vital support.

Commenting on the upcoming event, Paul Shamplina says: “As many people know, I’ve been a keen boxer for many years. Boxing not only helps me keep fit, it’s a stress reliever, motivator, confidence builder and has taught me discipline. 

“I know an increasing number of boxing clubs are doing an outstanding job to ensure that the experiences they offer are fully inclusive, and that is why we feel that this year’s charity is a perfect fit for Rumble with the Agents 2020.”

Rumble with the Agents
‘Rumble with the Agents’ to raise funds for Inclusion Barnet

There will be five fights throughout the evening, which will each consist of three two-minute rounds. There will also be a three-course Neal, charity auction and raffle.

The event has raised a total of £93,000 to date for various charities. It’s open to agents, property professionals, suppliers and landlords and will take place on Thursday 21st May 2020. It will be held at Holiday Inn, Avenue Banqueting, 58 Regents Park Road, London, N3 3JN.

If you would like more information on how to volunteer to take part or donate something for the raffle/ auction you can email Rita Shamplina on info@rumblewiththeagents.co.uk or call 07790 569501.

Information about tickets can be found at www.rumblewiththeagents.co.uk.

The DPS Donates £19,000 to Charities in Brighton and Devon

Published On: March 20, 2017 at 11:36 am

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Categories: Finance News

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The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) has donated £19,000 to charities in Brighton and Devon.

A home and its grounds in Honiton, Devon, which are run by charity SeeAbility, are being refurbished following a £7,993 donation.

The DPS Donates £19,000 to Charities in Brighton and Devon

The DPS Donates £19,000 to Charities in Brighton and Devon

A further £11,000 is being used to fund specialist support from YMCA DownsLink Group – Youth Advice Centre in Brighton and Hove.

The Head of Tenancy Deposit Protection at the DPS, Daren King, comments: “The DPS has given over £200,000 to good causes since we established our charity fund in 2014.

“We believe that everyone has the right to live life to the full, and we were really excited to visit Devon to see how our donation is helping SeeAbility’s fantastic work.”

He adds: “We’re also delighted to be supporting YMCA DownsLink Group – Youth Advice Centre’s fantastic work in helping LGBT young people find a home in Brighton and Hove.”

SeeAbility aims to support people with a combination of sight loss and visual impairment, learning difficulties and physically difficulties, to reach their aspirations, and has over 20 residential homes and supported living facilities across the south of England.

The Partnership Executive of SeeAbility, Rebecca Compton, says: “The paved path that encircles the property in Honiton has become uneven, creating great difficulty for people with sight loss and wheelchair users.

“We’re really grateful to the DPS for this generous donation, which has helped us repair the path and undertake other vital improvements that will help our residents live independently.”

YMCA DownsLink Group – Youth Advice Centre is a “one-stop shop” for advice and information for young people aged 13-25 in the City of Brighton and Hove.

The Advice Services Manager at YMCA DownsLink Group – Youth Advice Centre, Julia Harrison, explains their cause: “LGBT young people account for 13% of the total number of clients accessing our housing service, with a 50% increase in transgender clients since April 2016.

“The DPS’s generous donation will help reduce youth homelessness and empower LGBT young people to be aware of their rights and responsibilities as tenants.”

The DPS’s fund assists charities that support the homeless and those who need help to live independently, and good causes across the UK have benefitted from donations from the DPS and its sister organisations, the Letting Protection Service Scotland and Northern Ireland, over the last three years.

Charities in the housing sector can apply for funds via this link: www.depositprotection.com/charity

Applications for the next round of awards must be submitted by 31st March 2017.

Landlords are Using New App to Get Rid of Clutter

Published On: September 8, 2016 at 10:44 am

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Categories: Landlord News

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This week, we’ve received some good news from our friends at the Gone for Good app on how our readers are helping charities and getting rid of clutter.

Landlords are Using New App to Get Rid of Clutter

Landlords are Using New App to Get Rid of Clutter

Earlier in the summer, we announced the launch of a new smartphone app that is dedicated to supporting charities, saving the environment and helping you get rid of unwanted goods in your home. Gone for Good is free to use and can help landlords who have leftover items in their properties.

Whether your tenants have left their belongings behind, or you need to get rid of some furniture, Gone for Good is an easy way to donate items to charity for free. Simply download the app, take a photo of your item on the app and your chosen charity will collect the goods direct from your door! Find out more here: www.goneforgood.org.uk

Gone for Good has now been back in touch with us to let us know that landlords from our site have used the app to do some good for local charities and the environment. If you heard about Gone for Good on Landlord News, remember to select it in the drop-down menu on the app so that they know who is making a difference.

The app has now sent a call-out to landlords and homeowners across the country to have a clear out and donate to charities.

With summer almost behind us, attention is quickly turning to Christmas. For charity shops, this period is an important time to raise money for good causes, but they are often held back by a lack of the right stock.

Gone for Good’s charity partners, including Cancer Research UK and Oxfam, are appealing for people to donate goods to them at this time.

The areas they most need support with are:

  • Coats and jackets, heavy knitwear, hats and scarves
  • General menswear
  • Furniture
  • General homewares

If you need to get rid of any unwanted items from your property, why not use Gone for Good to make a real difference?

We would like to thank all of our readers who have supported the app on behalf of the Gone for Good team.

RLA Encourages Members to Help Charities with Gone for Good

Published On: July 29, 2016 at 8:29 am

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Categories: Landlord News

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The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has announced its support for Gone for Good, a smartphone app that encourages businesses and individuals to donate unwanted products and goods to charities.

Last week, we revealed how Gone for Good can help landlords across the country get rid of clutter in their rental properties and support a good cause at the same time.

RLA Encourages Members to Help Charities with Gone for Good

RLA Encourages Members to Help Charities with Gone for Good

Following a successful pilot stage in Greater Manchester, Gone for Good rolled out across the UK earlier in the year. It aims to help charities raise the vital funds they need and stop unwanted items ending up in landfill.

The app matches those wanting to dispose of items in their properties with charities that are actively looking for certain goods and will collect them for free.

Gone for Good is especially useful for landlords, who often have to clear out goods left over by tenants or themselves have furniture or items that they are able to donate when they refurbish a property.

The firm aims to re-channel 6% of the saleable clothing and other items that currently end up in landfill. If it achieves this goal, charity shop income will double, meaning that good causes receive more support.

The app also enables users to give away their unwanted belongings to charity from the comfort of their own homes.

The CEO of the RLA, Andrew Goodacre, explains: “We are delighted to be supporting this innovative and important social enterprise.

“Gone for Good is quick and easy to use, and its values fit squarely with our own. We know that our members like to act responsibly in terms of disposing of unwanted items in their properties. The app helps them to do so, reducing waste whilst at the same time supporting charities and local communities as well.”

The Managing Director of Gone for Good, Mark Charnock, adds: “Gone for Good underpins the work that the RLA does in encouraging a well-managed and professional residential rental market. The app helps landlords manage their properties more easily and saves them money, whilst helping good causes. It’s a win-win for everybody concerned.

“We have had such a positive response to the Gone for Good app from businesses, the public and charities across the UK, and are delighted that the RLA and its members are able to support us.”

Download the app now from Google Play or the App Store and help out charities in your area!

Britain’s Most Festive Home?

Published On: December 10, 2015 at 3:07 pm

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Categories: Property News

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It could be in any town or city around the UK, but this Christmas lights switch-on is held at a family home in Bristol.

Hundreds of people gathered to watch as more than 50,000 lights illuminated an end-of-terrace house in the suburb of Brentry.

Lee and Paul Brailsford have been decorating their mother Rosemary’s home since 1994, raising thousands of pounds for charity along the way. They have donated more than £30,000 to The Grand Appeal over the years, the charity for Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.

The £10,000 display takes six weeks to put up and three days to take down. It features a huge 70 light-up figures, including Santas and snowmen.

The lights are turned on for six hours a day for 31 days over the festive season.

Visitors may not notice the 200,000 metres of cabling, but are sure to spot the largest attraction – a rare life-sized nativity set from the USA.

Lee explains how it began: “We started decorating the house more than 20 years ago and each year it’s got bigger and bigger.

“We wanted to raise money for The Grand Appeal as Paul and I both have young children and we realised how lucky we are to have such a fantastic hospital right on our doorstep if ever we needed it.

“We raised more than £8,000 last year alone and would love to do even better this Christmas.”

He continues: “The switch-on is a lot of work, but it’s also really exciting. All our friends and family come along to help and the whole community turns out to see the lights go on.

“The reaction when we press the button for the first time makes it all worthwhile.

“We are really proud that it has become such an important part of people’s Christmases, as well as having raised so much money for such a brilliant cause.”1

The family’s first decoration was a small light-up Christmas tree, but their collection now includes 15 Santas, ten reindeer and ten snowmen.

Additionally, there are 30 sets of rope lights, ten sets of twinkling icicles, 50 rope-light shapes, trains, elves, soldiers and the nativity set on a purpose-built stage.

Most of the lights are supplied by local businesses, with the pair stocking up in the January sales every year.

Last year, the display raised £8,100 for The Grand Appeal – its most successful year so far.

This year, after Bristol was named as the European Green Capital, the brothers began converting all of the 50,000 bulbs to LEDs.

The display costs around £600 to run, and 19 local firms have sponsored this year’s spectacle to help cover costs and provide equipment for the switch-on.

Director of The Grand Appeal, Nicola Masters, says: “The Brailsford family has been supporting The Grand Appeal with their amazing lights display for many years and we’re so grateful for their incredible support.

“The switch-on has become something people from all over the region really look forward to and the event that really gets people into the Christmas spirit.

“As well as bringing so much Christmas spirit to the community, the money raised has helped our charity to support countless sick children at Bristol Children’s Hospital and their families.

“Every penny raised will help Bristol Children’s Hospital to continue to provide them with the very best care and make their Christmas that little bit brighter.”1 

1 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/12028373/Britains-most-festive-house-50000-Christmas-lights-illuminate-Bristol-home.html

Letting agent slammed for taking housing benefit from charity

Published On: November 9, 2015 at 3:07 pm

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Categories: Finance News

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A letting agent has been slammed after taking a whopping £5.5m in housing benefit from a charity housing homeless people. Campaigners have described the act as a, ‘worrying arrangement.’

Investing Solutions, operational across seven London boroughs, received the money over a two-year period from the Fresh Start Housing, which pledges to find properties for single, homeless men.

Investigation

According to a BBC investigation, the company, based in York Road, Battersea, has earned an £11,568 annual profit from one single property. The company nor the charity have broken the law with their actions, but understandably, campaigners have described the arrangement as ‘exploitation.’

The investigation found evidence of some Investing Solutions properties were substandard, with issues such as rat infestation and damp in many homes.

Candida Jones, Labour councillor at Wandsworth Council, commented that, ‘it is shocking that so much public money can be paid to house some of our most vulnerable people in filthy and dangerous conditions.’ She feels that, ‘in a properly regulated housing market exploitation of this kind could not have happened.’[1]

‘I can’t understand why alarm bells were not ringing at Wandsworth Council. They are flat-footed when it comes to investigating local landlords.’[1]

Letting agent slammed for taking housing benefit from charity

Letting agent slammed for taking housing benefit from charity

Terrible

As spokeswoman for housing charity Crisis said that longer-term tenancies and an obligatory register for landlords would assist in protecting tenants. She noted that, ‘too often, people who are at risk of homelessness are in a terrible situation.’[1]

‘It is evident the people at the lower end of the market are so vulnerable. We know that private companies are exploiting people-it is worrying. In a market where demand has grown so much, it is unsurprising that this sort of thing is happening.’[1]

However, company director Samir Patel, denied that there was a link between Investing Solutions and charity Fresh Start Housing. He would neither confirm or deny that £5.5m was given to his company during the period, but noted that figure was possibly accurate.

Mr Patel said,’ we lease properties from landlords. We house homeless people in need. We do not charge them any fees. These clients are in desperate need of housing. I could rent to working people and get more money but we think of this as a win-win situation because the homeless are getting homes.’[1]

‘If the council could house them there would not be a demand for our homes,’ he added.[1]

[1] http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/letting-agency-took-55million-in-housing-benefit-over-two-years-from-charity-which-housed-the-a3109156.html