The Latest Campaign Poster from Shelter

Have to say I think Sharon has a point and it's something that strikes me with Tessa's site too - trying to be all things to all people.

The thing that irritates me Mark is the posts leading to Twitter. If you are one of the sane and not obsessed with 140 character messages how are you supposed to know what is being referred to, which presumably is relevant enough for you to post it, unless you can read it.

If that significant can I suggest the twit (tweet?) is posted as opposed to just a link or reference which is useless for those not on Twitter which, despite it and Facebook seemingly about to take over the planet, is the majority of us poor media illiterate souls

Reply to the comment left by "Industry Observer " at "28/03/2014 - 09:11":

Tweets are published in their full interactive glory. If you have a very slow computer or internet connection the code may not render quickly and you may just see links at first. Given time though the Tweets will display in their full glory 🙂
.

I didn't know that thanks Mark.

I have a very fast computer and connection so will have another go

OK I get it - just thought there'd be more forgot of course tweets are only 140 characters.

No good for me as you well know!!

When Chirrup launches and allows 500 words per chirp I'll be first in line for an account!!!

The Twitter debate continues ......... please give the code a few second to render the Tweets in their full glory and feel free to join in either discussion.

@FlatDetective - good question, but why would a good landlord refuse a good long term tenant?

— Mark Alexander (@iAmALandlord) March 28, 2014

Hi Mark, I thought it would be easier to sign up and contribute here. As you said above, it's an interesting discussion and 160 character sound bites don’t do it justice!

Your suggestion of educating tenants about Deeds of Assurance is constructive, but I don’t think it will apply to the end of the market Shelter concerns itself with. This problem stems from a market failure in terms of supply and therefore choice, meaning landlords have a great deal of power over their tenants. In business if your supplier breaches their contractual or statutory obligations then you’ll switch supplier. In the PRS it’s very expensive for tenants to move around, and in any case there’s seldom anyone better available.

Which brings us to what really makes a “good landlord”. Most tenants would be over the moon with a landlord who fulfils their contractual and statutory obligations… i.e. keeps their half of the bargain. From a personal perspective my current landlord is exceptional because they tend to stay out of the way, have not (yet) tried to unreasonably take cash from the deposit, rarely let themselves into the flat unannounced and generally fix serious defects within a few months of our raising them. All of my previous landlords, and those of my peers, have breached one or more of those obligations to varying degrees within the last 5 years.

Is that fair? It’s up to you to decide. I’m not insinuating that all landlords are bad; the posters on here seem far more reasonable than most. However, the evidence suggests there are many who aren’t. 9 million renters in the UK are often subject to astonishing conditions for over half of their salaries, with no realistic way out. Recourse to legal remedies is too expensive, and it’s easy for landlords to get rid of ‘troublesome’ tenants because they know their flat will be immediately snapped up by another desperate renter. Hopefully this helps to clear up some of the thinking behind such campaigns, and the reason for Shelter’s “perspective” on landlords?

Hello Flat Detective, Welcome to Property118.

I am Mark's business partner, Mark is currently Driving form Norfolk to the Cotswolds. Hence I am continuing the conversation while he is driving.

I am sorry to hear that you have previously had problems with your Landlords, however as a previous member has pointed out the statistics recently published by the RLA show that only a very small percentage of tenants have complained justifiably about retaliatory eviction and or other forms of mistreatment by Landlords.

To be honest, if your current landlord is taking up to 2 months to fix maintenance issues and letting himself in without notice his conduct would not be considered good practice by either a Good Landlord or indeed the Judiciary.

You have mentioned supply problems and I agree with you in that regard. However, without the Private Rented Sector there would be no more houses and flats and probably a lot less on the basis that many developments have been created with landlords the primary target for sales.

With regards to evicting tenants, I can assure you, from a Landlords perspective this is far from easy. A nonpaying tenant who may also be a nuisance to neighbours and causing damage to a landlords property can often remain in the property without paying rent for 6 or more months before the Landlord is able to obtain possession through the correct legal process. Benefits claimants can continue to receive tax payers money in the form of benefits throughout such periods.

Can this be right?

Hi Flat Detective. The problem therefore seems to be that as Shelter seeks to protect the consumers of the lower end of the rental market and that by association can include benefits tenants, it skews the public's perception of landlords. It never puts out a balanced view its always "Landlords are bad: Tenants are Good
( shades of George Orwell and Animal Farm I know) So all good landlords are tarred with the same brush as "bad landlords" for Shelter's own political ends. They want landlord licensing. Why? Does it think the rogue landlords will sign up. No chance. But by propagating that perception it seeks to exert political influence over the property owning classes so we all sell up and dump loads of properties onto the market for the "lower" classes to buy and live in happliy ever after. Not. How would they buy them? Even if property prices halved some of the tenants who rent in the PRS would not be able to afford the deposit.

Sorry to have a rant but Shelter are like a red rag (sorry political comment again) to a bull with most landlords who get sick and tired of hearing the same old same old. Change the record Shelter. We're all tired of the tune.

Hi FD

There are statistics, damned statistics etc - where does 9 million renters come from, or is that 2 M renting households plus all other living creaturs under the same roof (kids, cats, dogs, hamsters etc).

There are I think 24 M households in the UK and 70% of those, roughly, are still owner occupiers.

ONS stats below:

In 2011 the number of households in England and Wales stood at 23.4 million, an increase of 1.7 million from 2001. Of this number 64% were owner occupied – bought outright or through a mortgage, while the remaining 36% were rented.

Renting from private landlords almost doubles over the decade

Over the decade to 2011, the number of owner occupied households in England and Wales remained more or less unchanged at about 15 million, while the number of households increased. This means that the overall proportion of owner occupier households fell by 5 percentage points to stand at 64%. The number of households who were renting went up 1.6 million to 8.3 million.

Among the 8.3 million renters in 2011, those renting from private landlords or letting agents were up 1.7 million to 3.6 million compared to 2001, while those socially renting decreased by about 100, 000 to 4.1 million. All regions in England and Wales had increases in private renters, of which 343,000 were in London, 233,000 in the South East and 209,000 in the North West. Wales and the North East had the lowest increase with about 75,000 and 73,000 households respectively.

The rapid increase in the number of households privately renting could be linked to the decline in the number of households getting on the housing ladder, usually through a mortgage. This is mainly because of the increasing difficulty for first time buyers to raise deposits for a mortgage. A few possible factors contributing to this include:

The fall in people buying their homes and the subsequent rise in people privately renting has seen schemes such as ‘Buy-to-Let’ flourish over the decade.

see >> http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/detailed-characteristics-on-housing-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/short-story-on-detailed-characteristics.html