Landlords in Cornwall are being offered help in an attempt to ease the shortage of social housing in the county.

The local authority has announced it will give landlords support from a housing officer if they have problems with a tenant referred to them by the council.

Cornwall Council’s Stepping Stones scheme has been created to help the 24,000 people on the waiting list for social housing to find a new home.

Councillor Mark Kaczmarek said that there are too many households in the county that are living in emergency accommodation or bed and breakfasts.

“We need private landlords to come forward and offer good quality homes and the council will do all it can to help them and their tenants.”

Ruth Clarke, chairman of Cornwall Residential Landlords Association, welcomed the decision to introduce a landlord liaison officer and said the appointments will “avoid many of the issues currently being faced by both landlords and tenants”.

Each property on the Stepping Stones to Homes scheme will be inspected by Cornwall Housing’s Private Sector Housing teams to make sure they meet agreed standard.

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