This week the Residential Landlords Association launched what can only be described as the most ambitious landlord initiative in history; and it revolves around self regulation.

The Residential Landlords Association Accreditation Scheme is designed to bring about co operation between local councils and professional landlords who are committed to maintaining high standards for the sector and benefitting from the enhanced reputation that brings.

“The intention is to foster better communication and mutual understanding between landlords, tenants and local authorities and to provide better living conditions in higher standards of decent, safe homes,” according to RLA chairman Alan Ward.

The scheme is open to all landlords including those not registered with the RLA and the RLA has set up a body to over see it but promise a very hands off approach.

The idea is to help landlords to communicate to each other all the skills, information and best practice tips they have learned over the years and by doing so, hopefully, improve standards for everyone.

The scheme will recognise landlords not properties but clearly inspections of individual landlords properties will be part of the process of becoming accredited.

It is hard not to get behind such a scheme. Part of the reason behind the idea is fairly transparent; the RLA clearly think that such a move on the part of landlords may show enough ‘willing’ to hold off enforced regulation.

More power to them I say.

Nigel Terrington, chief executive at Paragon Group, has released a statement today that indicates  landlords are starting to expand their portfolios at quite a dramatic rate.

According to Mr Terrington landlords have been poised to purchase for quite some time and are now starting to swoop on available finance and properties. Confidence in the sector, he says, is sky high.

He is also very pleased that the growth in the market is mainly being driven by experienced professional landlords as these are the people we need at the helm of private rented property with a predicted housing crisis looming.

“The fact that nearly half of buy-to-let business during the period was for experienced landlords to expand their portfolios is encouraging because it is this group of landlords who will drive the growth of the market.”

If he is right then we have to think we are in a better position than the last time the rented sector boomed, when with no disrespect intended, many landlords were fairly clueless having been thrown into the role against their will.

Mr Terrington is sounding very optimistic about the prospects of private landlords and it is great to hear this level of positive thinking starting to seep into the sector. As he says:

“With the growth of tenant demand showing little sign of slowing, the UK needs more properties in the private rented sector to help keep pace.”

Let’s hope they get them and the sector can provide housing to the nation.

It is a fairly true indicator of how landlords are feeling that over 2000 of them have joined Landlord Actions ‘Rebalancing the Law’ campaign in under a month. It is aimed at making the eviction process fairer on landlords.

We talked a little bit about this campaign a few weeks ago but as it gathers speed there is just time to highlight it again before the deadline of November 5th arrives.

Paul Shamplina, Founder of Landlord Action, comments, “the fact that over 2,000 landlords have given their support to this campaign is a clear indication that landlords are unhappy. The process takes far too long – something that Landlord Action sees on a daily basis. 2,000 landlords are now asking the Government to recognise landlords’ concerns and to begin taking steps to improve the situation.”

If you are concerned about landlords getting a fair deal then you need to get involved now.

It needs to be the first thing you do when you finish reading this. I am not in the habit of backing cause and pushing campaigns but I think this one is important. The eviction process is too biased. In cases where it is clear that the tenant is at fault there should be a right to expediency for the landlord

They have bills to pay too.

It seems landlords want the process changed to allow for quicker evictions of problem tenants and they want it quick smart. Fair enough I say; this has been a problem area in our industry for far too long. I am all for giving the tenant a decent go but at the moment the balance is all out of whack.

This latest push for change is being lead by Landlord Action. It is backed by the Residential Landlords Association plus Mike Weatherley, Tory MP for Hove and Portslade in Sussex.

Paul Shamplina, spokesperson for Landlord Action on the issue, said: “We are seeking changes to the law in order to speed up the eviction process. This is particularly important when there is a clear case of non-payment of rent or anti-social behaviour.

They are also pursuing the very worthy goal of more access for landlords to their own properties when the tenant is behaving in a reprehensible way.

Quite rightly the powers behind this recognise the difference between  cases where there is suggestion that the landlord is in the wrong, these will genuinely take longer to sort out. Say an example where the property has been poorly maintained but there are cut and dried cases where the tenant is simply not paying rent or damaging the property or both.

There is no need for the long drawn out process landlords are forced to endure in such circumstances. Often they are pulled into debt themselves or have to watch while their investment is devalued.

Quicker evictions, now. The push has my full support.

Nigel Terrington, chief executive at Paragon Group, has released a statement today that indicates  landlords are starting to expand their portfolios at quite a dramatic rate.

According to Mr Terrington landlords have been poised to purchase for quite some time and are now starting to swoop on available finance and properties. Confidence in the sector, he says, is sky high.

He is also very pleased that the growth in the market is mainly being driven by experienced professional landlords as these are the people we need at the helm of private rented property with a predicted housing crisis looming.

“The fact that nearly half of buy-to-let business during the period was for experienced landlords to expand their portfolios is encouraging because it is this group of landlords who will drive the growth of the market.”

If he is right then we have to think we are in a better position than the last time the rented sector boomed, when with no disrespect intended, many landlords were fairly clueless having been thrown into the role against their will.

Mr Terrington is sounding very optimistic about the prospects of private landlords and it is great to hear this level of positive thinking starting to seep into the sector. As he says:

“With the growth of tenant demand showing little sign of slowing, the UK needs more properties in the private rented sector to help keep pace.”

Let’s hope they get them and the sector can provide housing to the nation.

We have had some divisive law changes in the private rented sector over the years but the latest one handing a lot of power to local government is one of the most divisive yet.

I am aware that the RLA have waded into the argument full force and I agree with a lot of what they say but in the interests of fairness I want to air both sides of the argument in two blogs.

For those of you who are unaware a law came into being on October 1^st that dictates that local goverments have the power to insist on planning permission being obtained when a landlord wants to let to 3 or more unrelated people. To be fair this is a concession on what the labour party had planned, under their law landlords would have to have applied in every area regardless of demographic.

The RLA’s argument is that not only is this a bureaucratic nightmare it is also on the thin edge of the wedge in terms of social engineering.  Chairman of the RLA puts it like this:

“Planning law has always controlled building use, not the relationship between the people who may live there. But now, if a shared house or flat is rented to a single person, or a family, a landlord loses the future right to rent it again as a shared house – without obtaining planning permission.”

And on the social engineering issue he adds:

‘we feel is a dangerous use of planning legislation to dictate who is allowed to live where. ‘

It is clear that the RLA is not happy and I think their position is clear. Next blog I want to look at the motivation of the government in bringing in this new law.

The RLA (Residential Landlord’s Association) are not happy with the new law allowing local government to force them to obtain planning permission to rent a property to three or more unrelated people, in certain ‘problem’ areas.

So what is the government’s thinking, what is motivating them?

They say this “(the government) also understands the concerns of residents who see their neighbourhoods being overrun by HMOs(houses in multiple occupancy) and the significant impact this is having on their quality of life.”

The bottom line is there are pockets where so many HMO’s are causing a problem for other residents. The types of places being complained about are often (not always but often) student areas and the residents complain of high noise and littering levels. The government may not be saying so directly but their aim is to prevent student slums from forming.

I understand the concerns of residents, I really do. But I cannot help thinking the government is taking the easy way out. There are already laws against littering and high noise levels. Surely the way forward is to enforce them?

It troubles me that I see this occurring a lot in Britain at the moment. Instead of enforcing current laws we just create new ones.

More police anyone?

As most of you are probably aware recent legislation change means that the annual rent threshold for common ‘assured shorthold tenancies’ is now raised from £25,000 to £100,000.

This in itself is newsworthy but it is the fact that the legislation back dates the legislation that seems set to catch landlords out if they are not on their toes.

The bottom line is that the change drags many more ‘high end’ properties under the tenancy deposit scheme. Not just those that are rented after the Oct 1 change to the law but also those that were rented between the dates 6 April 2007 and The Oct 1st change that occurred this year.

Therefore those of us who have been happily operating properties of up to £100 000 without securing the tenant deposit within the scheme now fall foul of the law. It is imperative that all landlords remedy the situation as soon as they can.

In the meantime prominent landlord groups are arguing that the retrospective legislation is a legal minefield. They are calling very strongly for the law to apply only from the date it was officially introduced.

A seasonal warning is due to all students looking to rent property, especially if it is their first time in the waters of rental property.

As has been discussed on this blog before most landlords are fair and just. But as with all sectors, it has its fair share of shady dealers. And students, young and often desperate having left things to the last minute, can be their favourite prey.

This is especially true this year as the supply of rental property is low and students are likely to have a harder time finding things in their budget. An example of the sort of thing that goes on was recently exposed on the Gumtree website. A scam involving fake landlords asking potential tenants to send them money for non-existent accommodation was uncovered but not before it had claimed some victims.

A lot of these fake landlords claim to be members of the NLA (national landlord’s association) and even go so far as to forge letter heads with that claim. My number one tip to avoid scammers is to check that claim.

Go to www.goodlandlord.org.uk and enter the landlord’s details. If they have not given you a valid UK address to allow you to run this check then that is your first clue to have nothing to do with them. They are required to do that by law.

Most of us learned some lessons during the last recession. Even those of us who are seasoned and experienced landlords felt the sting of the collapse and we would all be silly not to heed the warnings we were given.

It is a rare landlord indeed that can claim to have remained untouched. If it was not a huge drop in property prices at the wrong time, it was reduced opportunity for bank funding or exposure to rental arrears as tenants hit difficulties.

There is no doubt that with demand now bigger than supply for rental properties, things are looking up for landlords but most are proceeding with caution. And that is only fitting.

As Graham Kinnear, MD at Landlord Assist points out the idea of infinite property price rises has been stripped away from us.

 “Prior to the credit crunch lots of people bought in to the idea of ever increasing property values and many landlords expanded their property portfolios quickly with the assistance of excessive bank lending. However during the height of the recession many were exposed to price falls on their property, in some cases wiping out any equity they had. “

Landlords will no doubt still expand in favourable conditions but the urge to protect themselves from the inevitable down times is now much stronger. The motto seems to be full steam ahead; with caution.