I came across this article recently questioning the role and purpose of the NRLA which prompted some thoughts. At least at GB Landlords we can assure Landlords that we are not commercial and do actually work for your benefit! Property118 | Is the NRLA still run for a common purpose? - Property118 I regularly hear Housing Providers (Landlords) complain that Ben Beadle has accepted the abolition of S21, the introduction of the Renters Reform Bill and now the new Renters rights Bill. Although he fought hardest for a recognition of Student Tenancies to remain as a fixed Term. However a regular comment was " well he would, as he is a student Landlord!" The NRLA seem to prefer to be seen as friends with politicians, rather than adversaries. At Landlord events their updates used to focus on Legislative changes and be really useful and informative for Landlords but unfortunately more recently they seem to be more about what Ben has done and who he is talking to, what the benefits of membership are and how you can join the NRLA. It has become a very commercial organisation selling training and services with copious numbers of emails hitting the inbox every week. I am not sure what exactly they can claim to have achieved over the last few years with changing Government plans. They have won industry awards, but that is of little benefit to a small landlord who is struggling to make ends meet! If you think there are wins they have had for Landlords, then please share them! Many of the Landlords I have spoken to at meetings were particularly concerned about a loss of S21, although they probably had rarely issued one. However they knew that if they had a problem Tenant they could at least recover the property, write off arrears and start again. That has gone. The only place I know that S21 was issued without cause was London where the agents saw it as a nice little earner every year and demand was good and Landlords are not particularly hands on!

Following the meeting last week, has anyone got any stats on where the social housing concentrations are in the city? Are they mostly in the areas where Additional Licensing is in place?

When at the landlord event last Thursday, I heard it mooted that selective licensing isn’t required for Heaton moving forward from 2025. I sent emails Friday & scrolled through new 2025 website & found nothing! So I’ve just used the “Landlord Helpline” & spoke to a nice guy, who confirmed selective licensing is not required for 2025 in Heaton 😮👍, though HMO licensing still is required. I’ve asked the council to send an email to the PRS community, clarifying what’s been removed as well as added as that would save a number of phone calls moving forward. They said they would feed that back & request it 🤔🤞. I don’t mind admitting that the news was received well in this household, a nice start to a Monday morning 👍. Hope that helps some on here 🤞.

The Environmental Health Officer body are now lobbying Labour to introduce inspections without giving Landlords 24 hours notice in the Renters Rights Bill! They claim that this allows Landlords to intimidate a Tenant who has complained and for them to have a conversation with the Tenant without the Landlord being present!! If someone is checking your property do you not want to have the opportunity to see what they are finding as rumour has it Tenants can be economical with information and the truth!! There is no reason why they can still not have that conversation after the inspection surely? I still believe that there are far more complaints about property standards in the Social sector than the PRS and this will be seen by many as just another big brother action and a reason for some to think about exiting the market! If the Councils got on with inspecting all their Licensed properties there would not be many others left unchecked!! Is this a concern for our family or would you be happy with this? Full article below. Property118 | Labour urged to bring in secret inspections of rented properties - Property118

The Housing Ombudsman has released their latest report and surprise surprise, the biggest offenders for complaints about poor standards are about Social Providers!! Read it below. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKHOS/bulletins/3bf404a This seems to disprove the claims by all these councils that the bad properties are in the PRS and that is why they need Licensing. It is nothing to do with income generation!! If we look at Newcastle as an example they have had to rehouse at least 78 families from YHN properties for damp & mould and have referred two social providers for investigation! The number of PRS properties found to be substandard after 15 years of Licensing are negligible by comparison. Despite my investigations they are unable to provide any clear information that fees have only been spent on implementing the Licensing Schemes! Dont forget that Ed Foster will be at our meeting on Thursday 7th. Dont miss it and book your place while there is still some available!!