NRLA hits back at Conservative MP calling for a rent freeze

NRLA Hits Back? with what? A wordy wet tissue!
We need a body that represents our interests and is able to answer these populist airhead politicians much more directly.

Ben, I think you can do better than this. Just read some of the comments for guidance.

Poor response on this particular issue and poor representation of landlord by NRLA in general.

NRLA should head hunt Shelter's copy writers, campaign managers and lobbyists to give our industry a chance.

https://propertyinvestorpost.com/nrla-hits-back-at-shelter-with-lengthy-letter/

"The NRLA went on to say that it doesn’t oppose the abolition of Section 21"

I bet the vast majority of landlords oppose the abolition of Section 21.

Who do the NRLA actually represent?

She is not even correct - and NRLA could say more - let us map also the increase in cost for landlords resulting from the increase in "certificates" for safety, EICR, smoke, emergency lighting, PAT testing, EPC etc etc certificates and renewing these more and more often, and forcing landlords to magically somehow without getting tenants to leave the property to do work, to increase EPCs to impossible level C ??

Also she is not correct - I am an HMO landlord with 25 tenants in two big houses, my former home in London, they are bills included and it's not practically possible to split the bill and even if it would be I would be on email and phone all day long with people arguing over 10 quid being not for them but for someone else.

Also she is not correct - and does not mention inflation her government caused, now running at 12-20 percent per year - far far far higher than rents have risen.

Is it acceptable for her to call landlords and me "opportunistic" - this is discriminatory and she is demonizing us landlords where we already face generation rent who abuse us on a daily basis - no one understands landlords can never say anything - as they are already in such a weak position and have tenants in their houses that can easily wreck things and do expensive damage which landlords with the joke of an english "court" system can never ever recover.

It's become very bad over very many years steadily - this is indeed now the point I feel very tired and old and want to sell and emigrate to the sun just eating my hard earnt, after taxes paid life savings instead of slaving for the government and random people first for free and now at a loss !

Ms Elphicke writes in a non-balanced, inflammatory way, as if she is an activist or uninformed journalist, and does not discuss all aspects involved and insults landlords calling them opportunistic.

NRLA replies like wet tissue and misses a whole bunch of things.

Nice landlords who have not raised much are being penalized here - and incentivized to raise rents as much as they can as quick as they can. We need professionals, not dumb politicians who don't think things through. They created inflation with their moneywasting 60bn track and trace, letting thousands of economic refugees in every day, 45 bn covid loan fraud. If only she had been clever and adopted the Swedish model of not locking down and killing the economy making us pay for it, borrowing thinking interest rates would remain at zero ........

Is there no end to PRS bashing ? We are just running a business like any other small entrepreneur, yet we are taxed on our income rather than profits (thanks to S24), can’t claim wear and tear, paying out endless compliance checks (gas cert, EPC, EIRC, Licensing etc) and now you want to cap our income to some arbitrary matrix that does not allow us to take account of inflation ? Really ?? Let’s not forget why we are currently in this housing crisis - repeated Gvts have not built enough houses for decades, the population is rising and now the PRS, disillusioned with all the new legislation and “easy target” victimisation, are selling up in droves thus reducing the number of properties available to rent. Profit margins in the sector are now razor thin (particularly in London). Most landlords are on fixed rate deals and Interest rates are rising much faster than rents, so it is no surprise that many are leaving the market altogether. We are in this crisis simply because demand now massively outstrips supply as the Gvt has gone too far in recent years and not respected or appreciated the service and accommodation the PRS provide to a younger and growing population, many of whom would prefer to rent rather than buy, net result a huge shrinkage of the PRS. How about the Gvt giving the PRS a lift for a change instead of beating us up - that would be a novelty…. We might actually be able to help with the housing crisis.

Ladies and gentlemen - wake up! If any of your rents are currently below market, now is the time to increase them before it is too late. It is time to think the unthinkable - that a Tory government will freeze rents. This Elphicke MP may be flying a kite on behalf of the government. Don't delay.

Of course she talks nonsense. For starters, many landlords ARE affected by energy rises. In most shared accommodation, the landlord is still paying the bills (i.e offering bills included in the rent.) And interest rates are going a lot higher. 1.75% isn't even half way there. And she ignores how government red tape has piled on the costs (Electrical safety and energy efficiency most obviously.) And then there's the taxation changes we all know about.

The government has engineered a supply crises of it's own making but hopes people will just blame landlords. That won't change anytime soon.

And we know these Elphicke-type people talk nonsense, but no-one really cares (except landlords and the brilliant Daily Telegraph - our only friends in Fleet Street.)

As for the NRLA, they are absolutely hopeless when it comes to the modern sound-bite media age. No wonder we are losing the war so spectacularly.

The rise in rents has not been caused by 'opportunistic' or 'excessive' rent rises, that could not be further from the truth, it has caused purely through the excessive rise in landlords' costs caused by a whole raft of new measures introduced over recent years, including of course S24 and the loss of wear and tear costs.

A large proportion of landlords in the PRS have come to the conclusion that diminishing returns and relentless and continuing introduction of compliance hoops to be jumped through makes being a landlord no longer a viable option. It is just not worth the stress and hassle for such meagre returns and there are far better investment options available.

It is no co incidence the the number of properties in the PRS has halved over the last three years. The exit of large number of landlords from the market means our customers have a diminishing supply of properties available to them and the answer is not to continue on this trajectory of getting rid of the PRS, it is to make the climate more landlord friendly, to encourage and incentivise landlords instead of forcing them out of business.

The Tories mishandling of the PRS has been epic and they are now reaping what they have sown.

The words party and brewery come to mind . . .

I have a couple of modern City centre rental flats in West Midlands, purchased in 2014 …..so 8 years ago. Market rent when purchased was £650pm and now around £750. Not much of an increase in 8 years and tenants will have had salary increases in that time. Rents just going up as they do with inflation and to some extent property values.
Regarding a rent freeze how would this work with one of my two bed rental houses. Long term tenant of 13 years currently pays £450pm (I increased rent by £25 in March from £425). Market rent £725 to £750. Now let’s say there’s a rent freeze and tenant decides to move out. House needs a full refurb (hence why I’ve hardly increased the rent in 13 years) with a new kitchen and all wallpaper needs removing and walls skimming and painting. New flooring (kitchen tiles and carpets) throughout the house. Approx cost £15k to bring fully up to spec to put it back on market. Would a rent freeze restrict me to letting the house out when refurbished to only £450 ? Which would be £300 below market rate ? If that’s the case then I will have no option but to remove it from the rental market and sell it. I doubt this would ever cross this lame excuse for an MP’s mind.

“Buy-to-let finance costs are still low, with two-year fixed rates available at less than 2.5 per cent.”
What planet is this woman on. I always have a look at Coventry BS rates as that’s where most of my rental mortgages are situated. Not always the very best rates but always fairly good. Two year fixed BTL (up to 75% ltv) coming in at 4.27% with a £1,999 product fee. Or 4.42% with no fee. Where this clown gets BELOW 2.5% from is beyond me. There again lying comes with the job …. like her old boss !!