Final call for members

The consultation about Selective Licensing in the Beeston and Harehills areas of Leeds ends tomorrow. It will cost £825 per property for a licence (with average house prices in the areas around £80,000). https://www.leeds.gov.uk/business/privately-rented-property/selective-licensing

Yes, Larry. I agree that the consultations are a sham and that the councils just write their own figure and we have to pay it, with no justifications or explanations of why the amount is what it is. They then try and find as much fault with the properties as they can in order to justify the exorbitant fee, which multiplies the amounts we have to pay. It would also be good as you say for the councils to be held to account for their often inferior properties. Let us know when we can pay the £100 annual membership fee. All the best.

'I appeal to all those landlords who have sat on the fence. Those landlords who have decided to wait and see. If Churchill had decided to wait and see, where would we be now ?'
Not sure I like to be insulted like this. There will be many reasons people have not offered payment yet, but to put them down is not the way to attract them!

All that being said let me know how to send my £100.

Hi Larry,
I have 4 very desirable, beautifully furnished and well maintained 1 bedroom flats in the City of London. The council is Tower Hamlets, who introduced a selective licencing scheme for which we have to pay £1000 for each flat for a 5 year licence. All the flat have just one respectable occupant in each of them, 2 of whom are city solicitors, 1 is mergers and acquisitions expert for a major international bank and the 4th a HR Director for a very well-known software company. These flats are located in 2 blocks each with a 24/7 Concierge.
When I applied for the certification I asked the council how many incidents of anti-social behaviour had been reported in these 2 blocks and was told none. I’ve recently asked the same question again and was given the same answer. This is very surprising as I was told that it was because the area suffered from anti-social behaviour that the licencing was introduced. I also noted that council stipulated minimum standards for licenced rental properties. These were so basic it was a joke. Our standards are far higher than the minimum requirement. I would be extremely surprised if any of the other flats available for rent in either of the 2 blocks we own in were any different to our own in terms of the standard offered.
I concluded that this was just a way for the council to extract money form Landlords. I also get the feeling that when the licences come up for renewal we’ll be given the same explanation as to why the Council are looking to implement yet another pointless 5 year licence scheme, no doubt at a higher price this time.
Larry just let me know when you want the £100. This and all the other ridiculous new taxes and regulations introduced must stop before we’re all forced out of the business and are forced to claim benefits from the government to survive.

all too vague for my liking
i have long advocated a union to forcefully and correctly represent the interests of landlords
but simply to call yourself a union and say, give us your money so we can save the day is no where near good enough
set up a proper union with proper rules and safeguards and a proper constitution and i will happily join
but until such time this is all just hot air

Reply to the comment left by RH at 31/10/2018 - 13:02
RH, other than your above comment, you have only made two others (both on the same thread), one which reads:

"Our industry is under threat like never before. Why? Because the enemies of the PRS, and these are numerous, from local councils, to CAB, to our own Government, are far better organised than us Landlords. We are a rag-tag group of individuals who belong to any number of subscription led organisations all competing with each other for a monthly fee.
as long as these conditions remain, we will continue to be targeted by a voracious government and cynical local councils, because the consequences of PRS bashing to these bodies are nil. The solution? Join a union! How have the workers in the past curtailed the excesses of their greedy overlords? They unionised. So come on 118, NLA, RLA, SLA, and all the rest of you subscription hounds, get together, form a union...i guarantee you will be inundated with requests to join, and lets restore some order to this ship before the idiots that govern us send us to the bottom with all hands on board."

Here is a union of sorts in its infancy and you call it 'hot air'. Constitutions etc. will come later once there's the initial backers in place and does require an amount of faith, but it's only £100 after all...

I would not feel comfortable joining this organisation because I have been following the twitter feed, @landlords_ltd which I'm sorry to say is cringe-worthy and very party political

twice I have tried to email to pledge my £100, and each time it wont complete, says the email address is not recognised or something similar???

Maggie

Im very interested and willing to join once a bit more information is available. Do you have a website yet, I can't find one?

I had pledged £100 on the first day. Once payment is required let me know and will pay instantly. Thanks for doing what we all need.