The Boomerang Effect for Landlords?

Mary I suspected that you would post on this. Our brief online tweet yesterday made me think too and I wrote todays article as a result http://www.property118.com/index.php/each-to-their-own-dont-shoot-the-messenger-5/18574/

Anyone with a mortgage would be understandably outraged if someone from Barclays bank suddenly let themselves in while they were watching TV and asked them what they were up to and yet this happens so often in the PRS.

I was trying to advise a landlord about this the pother week and he said to me in an incredulous tone "You arent seriously telling me that there is a law that says a man cant do what he wants with his own property".

If my landlord let himself in unexpectedly I wouldnt feel comfortable there any more. Many victims of burglaries have to move for the same reason. as you state, our home, whether rented or bought, is one of the places where we feel safe and have control over our lives, a respite from the world.

Having said that I am also concerned at the image of landlords. i dont think it necessarily comes from incidents like this. I think it goes deeper than even Rachman.

I bumped into an ex client of mine in the street the other day who told me about his time with one of our local rogues who I had prosecuted once for beating up his tenant. He told me that he hadnt suffered anything like that. I asked him about his experiences and he just smiled and shrugged and said "He's a landlord isnt he?". I was glad he didnt suffer the worst excesses but was a bit depressed that the guy just accepted and expected bad behaviour simply because he was talking about a 'Landlord'. How depressing is that?

At a recent meeting with senior managers about our landlords day, an event where we could get to know our local people and form relationships, a question was asked about where would be best to hold the meeting given that there would be around 200 people. Some suggested the Town Hall, which has the chambers and big meeting rooms. One person chipped in saying that we had held similar events in the past and the council werent happy about letting landlords on council premises?!?!?!?!?!?!

What did they think they were gonna do? tear down the lighting? urinate in the council chambers? Rape the female staff? I burst out loud when I heard this.

I suspect that people have pre determined ideas about landlords without necessarily having known one, simply because people may recoil at the thought that someone else has an element of control over their home. Just a theory.

I earn my pay under false pretences. My job description tells me that I have to investigate allegations of harassment and illegal eviction and prosecute where necessary, but I dont really. I have an unshakeable faith in people, that means landlords and tenants too, and I think human nature creates many of the problems and my job is to untangle things and get people talking again. The 21st century housing version of the mythical 1930s copper who resolved conflict by banging heads together and getting people to shake hands.

For ages now I have been thinking how great it would be to gather together the practices of great landlords, to champion them and create a club of the best. There is too much wittering on about Rogues. dont get me wrong, there are rogues. Look at the recent case of Regina v. Chyna Grey, a Croydon landlord who kidnapped her rent owing tenant, tied him to a chair and repeatedly stabbed him in the back with a scalpel. To paraphrase Hannah Arendt "Evil is banal". I dont need to spend too much time thinking on these pathetic characters, instead, lets big up landlords, good ones and great practices. Despite my job, I know loads.

My council is committed to building relationships with our local landlords, to change the way we interact with each other and yet there is still an anti-landlord prejudice I can sense in the air and I think it goes deeper that Rachman or just bad anecdotes.

At a recent meeting about where to hold our Landlord’s Day, an event to build relationships, one committee member said the town hall wasn’t appropriate as the council weren’t happy about letting landlords onto council premises haha. What did they think they were gonna do?

I think people essentially don’t like the idea that one person has some form of control over something as basic to them as their home and that is entrenched beyond Rachman.

The Law Of Property Act 1925 states that a tenant is effectively the owner of the property for the period of their lease. How would any homeowner feel if a representative of Barclays Bank let themselves in with a key and asked them what they were up to?

Most landlords don’t do this but enough do, to make this particular complaint a major part of my working week.

But as you say Mary, what about good landlords? Enough is spoken about rogues. Given my job I am up to here with it. But I’ll let you into a secret. I cheat on my job description, which is to prosecute landlords for harassment and illegal eviction. I take the 1930s copper approach, bang heads when needed and encourage warring parties to shake hands.

What is needed is not the focus on rogues but an understanding of what makes a great landlord. To champion great practices. Despite my job I know some wonderful people. Why don’t Shelter get behind a campaign to promote great practices and champion wonderful people instead of looking to boost their image by being the tenants champion?

Ben, you're the man! Your final sentence is exactly what Shelter need to do. They need to campaign for accreditation through education. The frameworks already exist to pull not push. Encourage education and not regulation and the sector will grow. Growth in itself will force the rogues to shape up or ship out due to competition.

Mark if punishment alone worked we would be living in a world with no murder or armed robbery let alone lock changes. Earlier this year a Croydon landlord called Chyna Grey was put in prison for nkidnapping her tenant, tying him to a chair and stabbing him in the back repeatedly with a scalpel. I have see these cases many times over the years but even I admit that even in Sarf London they are rare. Most rogue landlords act out of legal ignorance and frustration they need motivating, educating, even mentoring, which I try to do. Leave enforcement for the Chyna Greys of the world

Ben Would that all your colleagues were like you.

What really concerns me is that those organisations, that are there to help tenants, do not see the damage that they are doing to those people. Selling fear is unhelpful to everyone - unless I am missing the point and its a secret job creation scheme?

We MUST all begin working together to dispel tenants fears of private landlords and our properties because this is where they will be living in future and that is a fact. EDUCATION is the answer to all the PRS problems. Educating landords to understand the both law and the spirit of the law. Educating tenants to understand that landlords are in business to make money but that they are our customers and they have a right to expect a home "fit for purpose" but that they must keep to their end of the bargain too. Both landlords and tenants have obligations and we all need to understand those obligations and to meet them.

There are just two parties to a tenancy agreement. The Tenant and the Landlord. Everyone else is on the outside looking in and if they choose to become involved in this relationship they should do so ONLY to help to resolve issues that cannot be dealt with by those two parties. Resolving issues means finding solutions not pointing fingers and cutting new sticks with which to beat either party.

Here is an Idea Ben. You become the King of your world and I become the Queen of mine and working together we WILL make a difference because we are both problem solvers.

Spot on Mark! Ben and I will let you be a Prince in our new world.

The longer I operate in my area of the business the more I am convinced that it is the area of attitudes and eduction that we need to concentrate if we are to change the relationships between landlords and tenants, not the law.

Shapps said they wouldnt regulate landlords because there is already enough legislation in place and in that I agree, there really is. In response to my Guardian article Shelter asked me to write my own report and recommendations which I sent off to them yesterday. I point out the difference between having the laws in place and how logistics and bureaucracy make prosecutions unwieldy and impractical.

My recommendations are all based on working with landlords to raise standards of both properties and awareness. Helping them to do it rather than simply threatening them when they get it wrong.

In the report I stress that they need to look at the term ‘Rogue Landlord’ being so widely used these days. When the term rogue landlord is used for all iffy landlord behaviour, without differentiating the rogues can hide amongst the gang but if we can raise the bar in terms of the way landlords and tenants relate to each other the “Real” rogues will stand out like a sore thumb and we can mop them up.

I’ve said this until I’m blue in the face, that most acts of harassment are done out ignorance and frustration by amateur landlords, often because they don’t know what else to do. I should know, for 21 years I have been the guy who deals with these complaints but Shelter do love a populist campaign bless ‘em, and “Violent thug landlord” makes a better newspaper headline than “Frustrated, worried landlord acts rashly and later apologises”, which is closer to the truth most times.

Mary- really enjoyed the article. 'Rogue Landlords' and what to do about them has quite rightly been getting a lot of publicity lately. Your article adds a lot to the debate. A lot of what you have written seems to point to improving the way landlords communicate with each other. Totally agree that setting clear expectations at the beginning of the tenancy is absolutely vital.

To Ben and Mark's points, education of landlords (and tenants) is also important. In order to set expectations you need to understand what is expected of you.

I think a combination of better education and much more transparent communication is the way forward for improving the landlord tenant relationship.

Excellent article Mary.

Re keys, I don't think there is a problem with the landlord HAVING the keys so long as they only use them with the tenants consent. For example it may be very useful for tenants who lose their keys! They can then just get another set cut.

My tenancy agreements specify that the landlord has the right to hold keys for the property but then goes on to say that that they will not be used to enter the property without the tenants consent (save in emergency).

Communication is the key between tenants and landlords to reduce the tensions. This communication is often of poor quality and the conflict cannot be resolved by the parties alone as the feelings are often too raw and one or both parties lack the self control and the ability to problem solve. They are in the midst of a maze and the red mist syndrome blurs their thought process panics them both so peripheral senses are sidelined. They both need help

By offering them both a vehicle to exchange their very different viewpoints and to really listen to each other an airway of communication would be opened up. I have spent a lifetime in the field of conflict resolution breaking down barriers between opposing parties by mediating and negotiating a settlement. Tenants and landlords both want a voice and an escape route out of the hole they often dig themselves.

We have face to face mediation services for domestic disputes, neighbour disputes, family breakdowns disputes, victim v offenders disputes and the like. Why not have a hands on face to face facility where both parties can meet in a safe neutral venue and engage in a open honest exchange together with a trained facilitator. This service though expensive ( but not as expensive as court and could be centrally funded) would provide much relief from the heartache caused to both sides where they both feel the potential loss of control to one of the most important physical assets they have.- The home -

Both landlords and tenants want naturally to be in control their own destiny and that often will start with the control over what they BOTH perceive to be their own home. It is of course both of their homes in their minds but their legal rights tied up in that home are of course at odds with each other hence the conflict. Both parties need to step into each other shoes for a while and then the penny may drop and peace will be the winner!