17:59 PM, 30th October 2014, About 10 years ago 105
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With the 2015 elections coming up in six months time it’s time for landlords to start lobbying their MP’s. We need them to realise that over 1 million UK based landlords have a voice and have needs.
I am urging all landlords to write to their MP with a letter similar to my own (see below in italics).
You can be sure that tenants and lobby groups such as Shelter will be doing the same, so if we landlords keep quiet, as the usually do, the only voices MP’s will hear in terms of issues surrounding the PRS will be from those who despise landlords.
My letter to my MP (sent by email) ……
SUBJECT:- Forthcoming elections
“Dear Mr Freeman
As a resident of your constituency, and along with more than a million landlords operating in the residential private rented sector, I am beginning to consider who to vote in the forthcoming elections. I want to be certain that you will support landlords in parliamentary debates so I would be interested to understand how you feel about the following issues which are of primary concern to myself and my peers..
Like me, most landlords are simple hard working folk who invest into property to fund their retirement and who ask just 3 basic things from their tenants:-
No landlord enjoys periods when rent isn’t coming in! That’s why we want our tenants to stay long term. The cost of refurbishment between tenancies and re-letting far exceeds the cost of maintaining our properties and relationships with our tenants.
What landlords need is a quicker system to evict tenants if they don’t do any of the 3 basic things listed above.
Job mobility necessitates a larger PRS, it’s growth must not be allowed to be stifled in any way.
No tenant lives in poor conditions out of choice, increased availability of PRS property will create competition and resolve problems without the need for regulation. Supply and demand is basic economics.
We need Councils to use their existing powers to close down the rogue operators who tarnish the reputation of the private rented sector.
What we don’t need is more regulation (local or National) to be funded by stealth taxes on landlords (AKA licensing or registration fees). I doubt tenants would vote for this either when they realise it puts an upward pressure on the rent they pay and there are thought to be around 5 million tenants in the UK.
The powers granted to local authorities to implement Additional and/or Selective licensing need to be removed. These powers negatively effect property values and insurance premiums for all property owners, regardless of whether they are owner occupiers or landlords. Also, there is no strong evidence to suggest that licensing reduces anti-social behaviour, which is why these schemes were introduced in the first place.
CGT rollover relief is applicable to landlords who invest in commercial property, but not residential property. That is counter intuitive! Tax reforms are needed to encourage residential landlords to trade up and to create more churn in the property market.
Please let me know which of my above comments you agree or disagree with so that I may consider how I will vote at the next election, and so that I may publish your reply at Property118.com for my fellow landlords within and outside your constituency to read.
One final question please; do own one or more residential properties yourself which you let to tenants? A simple yes or no to this question is all that is required.
Yours sincerely
Mark Alexander”
Important footnotes to Property118 members
You can find details of your MP here
You MUST quote your address in correspondence.
When you have sent your letter please post a comment below.
When you receive a reply from your MP please post that below too. If it’s a long letter please email to mark@property118.com and I will get it linked to your comment so that it can be opened in PDF format.
Is your MP a #landlords champion? – http://t.co/8gem3z87W9
— Mark Alexander (@iAmALandlord) October 30, 2014
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Revenge Eviction or was the landlord right?
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
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Sign Up10:21 AM, 11th December 2014, About 10 years ago
Reply to the comment left by "AA Properties Wales " at "10/12/2014 - 23:16":
That can never happen, unpaid rent may feel like theft but it is not. It is a breach of contract. If the law was changed as you suggest prisons would be full of people who failed to pay their bills, e.g. missed payments on mortgages, mobile phones, utilities etc. etc.
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Michael Barnes
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Sign Up16:28 PM, 11th December 2014, About 10 years ago
Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "11/12/2014 - 10:21":
No, you just give them comminity service orders (preferably out doors in the winter) as well as ordering repayment, and enforce it (if they don't turn up, send in the police at 6am the next day to drag them out; if they do not 'serve' effectively, then the time does not count).
Say one hour for each £10.
Dr Rosalind Beck
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Sign Up16:54 PM, 11th December 2014, About 10 years ago
I'm wondering with LHA or Universal Credit paid to the tenant, who then spends it on something other than the rent whether that could be seen as fraud? Maybe clutching at straws, but we should look into all possibilities.
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
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Sign Up17:11 PM, 11th December 2014, About 10 years ago
Reply to the comment left by "Rosalind " at "11/12/2014 - 16:54":
I have asked this question of several lawyers and the same answer comes back every time. It is NOT fraud.
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Kulasmiley
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Sign Up20:37 PM, 11th December 2014, About 10 years ago
So why not "fraud by misrepresentation?". Tenant agrees to receive rent from local authority to pay direct to landlord, tenant does NOT pay landlord, SO, authority takes tenant to court for not doing so. Landlord becomes part of the action as a "party to the action". I'm sure this has happened in the past where a local authority has become party to an action at county court.
Come on guys, this is "the one bone of contention", LL not receiving his rent. Why can't this be a "private prosecution?" also???
Dr Rosalind Beck
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Sign Up20:45 PM, 11th December 2014, About 10 years ago
I think that if we were to get an MP or two to back us, as someone mentioned, to become our champions, we could get a bit further. What I would like is a scenario where we were setting the agenda and Shelter had to respond to our proposed laws, rather than it being always the other way round. Attack is the best form of defence, they say.
So we could do with compiling a list of 'friendly' MPs and maybe even get them together... It would be good to know who might be our friends instead of always just knowing our enemies (like Shelter, for instance) Is this really far-fetched? Has it been tried and failed? I don't know - I haven't been following all these discussions over the years. Been too busy dealing with tenants from hell!
Kulasmiley
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Sign Up20:45 PM, 11th December 2014, About 10 years ago
We cannot rest until we bulletpoint firm demands if retaliatory eviction law is on it sway to be passed. Surely we can come up with 4/5 essential demands-
1. IF tenant has rent arrears then it nullifies that law.
2. IF tenant has broken any part of tenancy agreement it nullifies that law.
3. IF tenant is aware of property problems before he signed tenancy it nullifies that law.
4. IF tenant makes up repair issue without merit then it nullifies that law, and can be sued.
5. Anything else??? (is the above too much?)
Kulasmiley
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Sign Up20:59 PM, 11th December 2014, About 10 years ago
Rosalind, are you in Cardiff?? Surely we can find a landlord friendly MP??
Point is, without us they would be in big trouble.
Am I right in saying here that a Conservative MP would be the only choice???
Hello anyone out there know an MP that could champion "our rights"????
user_ 1346
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Sign Up21:05 PM, 11th December 2014, About 10 years ago
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
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Sign Up0:27 AM, 12th December 2014, About 10 years ago
Reply to the comment left by "AA Properties Wales " at "11/12/2014 - 20:37":
You said .......... So why not “fraud by misrepresentation?”. Tenant agrees to receive rent from local authority to pay direct to landlord, ..........
That's not strictly true.
Tenants claims benefit and enters into a contract with landlord, these are two completely separate things from a legal perspective. If tenants breaches a contract with a landlord it is a civil matter, NOT criminal.
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