8:42 AM, 17th April 2018, About 6 years ago 94
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The Guardian has sunk to new lows this week with the publication of the most vehemently anti-landlord article, by Rhik Samadder (such an expert in the field that none of us have ever heard of him), that I have ever seen published by a national newspaper. The title alone is shocking:
‘Landlords are social parasites. They’re the last people we should be honouring.’
It then goes from bad to worse, when Samadder declares that:
‘Most buy-to-let opportunists make their tenants’ lives hell – giving them a prize is like giving Stalin a humanitarian award.’
He might think he’s being funny but my question is: Since when was it okay to compare an entire occupational group to an evil communist dictator who was responsible for the deaths of around 20 million of his own people and decades of misery under communism? How can a mainstream British newspaper publish such a disgusting claim?
The role of the private rented sector in supplying and servicing essential accommodation for millions of mobile workers, young professionals, students, migrants, families, the low-paid and those on benefits – amongst other things, filling the gap left by successive governments’ sell-off of council housing and also forming part of the economy’s critical infrastructure – is ignored. Other simple, sober facts, such as that tenants in the private sector express greater satisfaction with their properties than those in the social sector, are invisible in this narrative.
Instead, we get:
‘The fact is, they’re all rogue. Whether your landlord is a genial profiteer or an actual psychopath is the luck of the draw.’
The dictionary defines ‘psychopath‘ as: ‘a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviour.’
I would like to see Samadder’s evidence for this assertion. If he hasn’t got any, then he can withdraw the comment and apologise.
As for his claim that landlords are ‘social parasites’ because they make a living out of renting out housing, the clear implication is that landlords should not be allowed to make any profit from their businesses because housing is a human necessity. Why, then, is the author not saying that all supermarket owners and share-holders are parasites, as they are making money out of people’s need to eat? Presumably, the journalist accepts no money for his work either and lives on fresh air. Perhaps he also thinks that writing hate-filled diatribes is more productive than providing a roof over people’s heads.
He further shows his ignorance, when he mentions the termination of short-term contracts as the main cause of homelessness. As I have to repeat practically every month ad nauseum to various ill-informed people, this is patent nonsense. It is the private rented sector which provides this housing in the first place. What’s more, landlords – unless they are supremely stupid – don’t evict for no reason – the most common reason is arrears and damage.
It is pure tautology then to say that the loss of the home ‘caused’ the homelessness. When an employee loses his job for stealing, who caused the loss of the job; the employer or employee?
He then mentions ‘revenge evictions.’ I believe these were a very rare occurrence in the past and have now also been outlawed, so why is he suggesting that they are still a problem, when tenants have legal protection against them? Perhaps he didn’t mention it because he doesn’t know about it; so-called journalists who do a tiny bit of research on a complicated subject often think that makes them an expert on it.
The next part is completely off the scale of the decency and objectivity which one would expect to find in a national newspaper:
‘Just sit on a damp mattress and cough up the cash. All so they can keep expanding, squatting over lives like feudal incubi. If you’re one of these people, you can shove your property portfolio up your arse.’
Incubi are evil spirits ‘supposed to descend upon and have sexual intercourse with women as they sleep.’
It is hard to know how to take this dreadful and libelous condemnation of our profession. The Guardian’s readership has been shrinking over recent years, with it standing at about a tenth of that of the Daily Mail – so they may be deliberately publishing hugely offensive material in a last-ditch attempt to gain more readers. But that’s still no excuse.
Needless to say, landlords have been completely taken aback and been commenting on social media about this. Landlord Owen O’Neill said of the author ‘He does seem to have a lot of opinions supported by no facts and an axe to grind. And if you swapped ‘landlord’ for any religion it would be hate speech and he’d be in prison.’ Another landlord, Terri Nash: called it a ‘totally disgraceful article’.
Yet another said:
‘Isn’t it strange that it’s OK for this person to label every landlord a parasite. I assume using his logic it’s also OK to brand every Muslim a terrorist, Every Black person a gang member, everyone from Ireland a thieving gypsy. I wonder what would happen if he published that.’
There is a more general issue which this article throws up and that is the implications of wholesale condemnation of occupational groups. This is not a new phenomenon; groups targeted in this way over the years have included: traffic wardens, bankers, teachers, social workers, MPs, estate agents and so on. And whilst groups with ‘protected characteristics,’ such as women and/or black people are able to take legal action when faced with such discriminatory attacks, occupational groups have no such protection.
If this hate writing is allowed to continue, it is only a matter of time before it leads to outright physical attacks on landlords; indeed, it is implicitly an incitement to violence.
One can speculate on the motivation for such vehement anti-landlord sentiment, of course and one landlord hit the nail on the head when he said:
‘He probably missed the boat and is upset that he isn’t a landlord.’
It is a given in psychology that hatred is often fueled by jealousy.
Nevertheless, regardless of his perverse and personal motives for making this attack, it is dangerous and as such I say to the editor of the Guardian: If any landlords are physically targeted after the publication of these articles, then the blame will lie squarely with yourselves for stigmatising a whole occupational group. I am also sure landlords will fund a legal case for anyone affected to bring those who incite such violence to justice.
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Dr Rosalind Beck
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Sign Up16:39 PM, 22nd April 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Mandy Thomson at 22/04/2018 - 16:29
Well, I just did a word count and his was 603 and yours was 475 words. I think it's worth emailing it to the editors. They won't mind so much that yours is shorter; it would be more of a problem if it was longer, I would have thought. I would say to them that if they can dish out a hugely biased article against one occupational group, they should be able to take something similar about their occupation as well.
What we also need is for someone to write a satirical piece about being a landlord, which is a different kind of reply to Samadder. I am thinking of launching a competition for this. If anyone is likely to have a stab at it, can they let me know, so that I can gauge the interest?
Mandy Thomson
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Sign Up17:01 PM, 22nd April 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 22/04/2018 - 16:39
Sorry to be a bore but although I've had to learn on the job and made some mistakes along the way, I have only ever been a more than decent landlord to more than decent tenants whom I've chosen carefully; that doesn't make for satire or even juicy reading.
However, there are landlords such as David Price and Robert Mellors who let to vulnerable tenants with issues (from what David has said in the past, they deserve medals). I'm sure landlords such as they will have some interesting and humorous stories to tell.
Dr Rosalind Beck
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Sign Up17:08 PM, 22nd April 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Mandy Thomson at 22/04/2018 - 17:01
Yes, it's not my thing either, Mandy. Gary has written some pretty classic stuff in the past - about dirty underpants hanging from light fittings etc. I think there are at least a few who come on here who could have a stab at it. It would be important to also mention s24 in the submission - that is a subject ripe for satire as it's so bloody bizarre. And if I launch the competition it will also go wherever we can think of - the landlord FB pages etc. It would be done on the understanding that it would most likely need some editing before submission, as we don't expect people to just be able to write like a journalist. In fact, I find that some people whose spelling and grammar isn't always 100% can be a lot wittier than those whose grammar is A1.
David Dorset
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Sign Up19:52 PM, 22nd April 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Mandy Thomson at 22/04/2018 - 15:58
I like the rebuttal Mandy.
Mark Shine
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Sign Up4:08 AM, 23rd April 2018, About 6 years ago
Well done Mandy!
Ros re your request for a satirical landlord rebuttal to the Guardian article, I think the author of http://www.propertyinvestmentproject.co.uk could be a suitable candidate? Alternatively am sure a few here have the skills you require eg Mark A himself, David Price, Appalled Landlord, BTL Investor Scotland...
Or we could just simply ignore the guardian. As usual. Hard I know. For me too, seeing such outrageous bs “journalism”.
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
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Sign Up8:23 AM, 23rd April 2018, About 6 years ago
I agree, the author of http://www.PropertyInvestmentProject.co.uk is the best satirical writer I have come across in this sector, if you don’t mind the F words etc.
And before anybody asks, no it’s not me. I am quite serious and boring in comparison to him
Luke P
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Sign Up9:17 AM, 23rd April 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 23/04/2018 - 08:23
It's Robert somebody-or-other, I think...based in Essex. Who is he -anyone know?
Monty Bodkin
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Sign Up10:46 AM, 23rd April 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 23/04/2018 - 09:17
I think we should respect his anonymity.
There are some very bitter and twisted people stalking these boards who blame their life's failings on landlords.
Mick Roberts
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Sign Up11:02 AM, 23rd April 2018, About 6 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 23/04/2018 - 10:46
I've had Twitter years.
Not had time to use it.
My Landlord Licensing vid on YouTube, someone on Twitter found it, he found me Twitter profile on YouTube when I don't even know where I am on Twitter.
He then found me in Daily Mirror, Mail, found some biking photos. Ha ha boy was is he obsessed.
He is so Anti Landlord. Blames whole of lives problems on me and Landlords.
He's put photos of me up everywhere. Quotes from me everywhere. And apparently it's all our faults why people can't buy houses.
He's gave no thought at all to those who can't afford to buy, no deposit, Housing Benefit, the amount of Homeless we help and provide for.
He's got loads of other Trolls on me. I love it, giving me so much attention. Problem for them is, I'm only gonna log on once a month or so and I think they may be talking to theirselves.
So much hatred from some people that some of us Landlords went without years ago to give ourselves and tenants a better life later on.
Hamish McBloggs
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Sign Up13:02 PM, 24th April 2018, About 6 years ago
Alex,
Someone else may have already pointed out this but IPSO do not regulate the Guardian.
They have their own complaints process.