Our city is facing a rent crisis

So not a biased summit in any way then.
Rents increasing, So - Lack of supply and shortage of accessible housing are all going to be sorted by this summit with ‘a focus on enforcement’ and ‘what form of rent control’ .
When are they going to learn? Lack of supply is due to landlords selling up due to unbalanced legislation and red tape. Those that remain are FORCED to increase rent to cover the onerous new rules and taxes. So more enforcement / onerous controls and red tape will only make things worse. If you keep taking a bigger sledgehammer to crack a minority nut - you end up with nothing of the nut worth eating.

Welcome to the People's Republic of Bristol.

GR and Shelter on steroids.

This has been in the local press for a couple of weeks now and just highlights the problem. These militant tenants' groups and leftist politicians form their own echo blinkered chamber and it never enters their heads to invite the actual providers of rental accommodation to their discussion groups, they'd rather just demonise them and impose yet more punitive measures which inevitably will make matters worse for tenants..

Reply to the comment left by Old Mrs Landlord at 24/02/2022 - 12:40I meant to say "blinkered echo chamber", but even that doesn't really make sense as an echo chamber doesn't have eyes to blinker!. However, they are blinkered and they do simply form an echo chamber deliberately closed to input from all voices except those of like-minded groups, such as the London mayor's fan club.

Reply to the comment left by Old Mrs Landlord at 24/02/2022 - 14:02They are blinking bonkers. The big worry is that this event is organised by the mayor of Bristol and reflects his perspective and views.

I tried to register for this event but it is fully subscribed. Probably just as well, I expect my blood pressure would have gone through the roof.

Bristol City Council (BCC) will need to seek Central Government authority to pilot rent capping. Why would a Conservative Government give this authority to a Labour led anti-landlord Local Authority? There is no argument that justifies such a pilot scheme. Instead BCC should monitor the results of Scotland's introduction of rent capping and analyse the results internationally where rent capping has already been introduced. This is a sensible low risk approach that won't waste council tax payers money and BCC resource. There is no political advantage for a Conservative Government to authorise such a scheme that is primarily being introduced to win Labour votes locally. Landlord associations have not been engaged by BCC on the pro's and con's associated with rent capping. Instead they show significant weakness and bias in dealings with the likes of Acorn and Shelter. The mere threat of introducing rent capping will only encourage landlords to repossess and sell their properties. Landlords won't wait for a consultation, if they do so, evictions currently available via section 21 won't be possible. However, have a look at Scotland's rent cap legislation. To some landlords rent capping may actually be attractive, it will provide an annual rent cap GDP + 1% that exceeds rent increases currently executed by many of those landlords today. Many BCC landlords will, however, require a return on any expensive investments made (or expected) to achieve new EPC and Carbon Emission standards. I suspect those landlords will now be planning to sell up. To ensure BCC to not get the necessary power to introduce rent capping, landlords need to write to Michael Gove's office ASAP.

If those landlords who this might affect, actually think that this is a serious threat then the likelihood is that rents will soar even further now. The best way to guard against future rent capping, is to increase the rent now.

I've been a landlord in Bristol for 30 years I self manage my properties which consist of 1 and 2 bedroom flats. I must say that I do feel for renters in our fair City as I have placed 5 adverts on Openrent this past year and there have been between 40 and 60 enquiries for each property within 3 days of the advert going live. The demand is certainly outstripping the supply and the property prices are pretty expensive as well. Unfortunately our left leaning council and our Mayor think that bashing landlords is the answer to this problem. They need to realise that they should work with and engage with landlords to find solutions, but they won't, the big stick will be wielded yet again, the consequences of which will make the situation far worse. The eleven tenants that occupy my properties are all great, it'll be very sad if they lose their homes because of the actions of people who are meant to be on their side.

Reply to the comment left by Jessie Jones at 26/02/2022 - 08:18
Jessie, Bristol rents can now achieve, or even exceed, £600pm per person for an HMO, even more for a student let. This I know because I just let a 4 bed Victorian terrace, as an HMO in decent condition in a popular area, for this amount. This summer I will be seriously looking at rent increases, and S21s where necessary, to get the above amount for my other similar places.
As per your observation, this needs to be done asap before Im not allowed.