About

Marden Oak is a residential property business that owns and manages around 70 properties in the South London area, including South Norwood, Penge, Anerley, Thornton Heath, Crystal Palace, Croydon and Forestdale. We are an open and inclusive housing provider, with tenants from over 40 nationalities, aged 7 months to 77 years and older, and welcome those receiving government benefits. We respect and encourage our tenants to view their properties as their long term homes and are proud to have tenants who have been with us for over 20 years. 

Founding

Marden Oak was founded in 1992 by Paul Norris and continues to be a family-owned and run business under the management of his daughter Claire Dunn. Rather than looking to grow our portfolio, we aim to consistently improve the tenant experience for those housed within the portfolio.

Responsibility

We care about housing people fairly and respond to maintenance concerns promptly. By the end of 2023, freeholders permitting, all the properties will be EPC rated C or higher. A number of our tenants struggle to manage fuel bills and we ensure we do everything we can to improve energy efficiency, particularly for those tenants. We work closely with trusted third parties and Mi Move Ltd for lettings and day-to-day management to enhance our tenants’ experience.

Ethical Practices

We are proof that strong ethics can drive a stable and successful property business. 

• We support tenants through transitions from benefits to a working life where benefits are removed and tolerate temporary arrears from tenants making that transition.

• We make relationships with charities such as Crisis and Centrepoint to house people who otherwise struggle to find landlords willing to rent to them, and work with those tenants to support their transitions to independent living. 

• When our tenants struggle, we liaise with Discretionary Housing to help them find financial support.

• Between 2020 and 2022 we awarded free months of rent to tenants who reached out after facing especially severe challenges during Covid lockdown.  e.g. hospitalisation

• We ensure that all building and maintenance contractors that work for us are paid within 28 days of completion, frequently far sooner.