£1,200 a month in rent from a £100,000 property!

£1,200 a month in rent from a £100,000 property!

14:08 PM, 24th October 2011, About 13 years ago 3

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Award winning buy to let portfolio building specialist speaks about his landmark David & Goliath victory over his local council. Robin Pilley is the founder of CXG Property Services which specialises in high yield HMO (Houses in Multiple Occupation) and letting. His combined business letting agency and property sourcing business is one of a kind in his area of operation.


Mark Alexander
Mark and his family have been investing in property since 1989, initially in the Norwich area but more recently across the length and breadth of England. Mark created Property118.com as a social network for landlords with a vision of becoming the UK’s largest online property investor directory.
Mark’s experiences and strategies as a landlord are shared here

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Comments

Jonathan Clarke

13:30 PM, 25th October 2011, About 13 years ago

Yes great stuff. Good to have someone battling away for us LHA landlords. Thanks for highlighting this subject close to my heart and i guess close to the hearts of many other LHA landlords who have not thrown in the towel ( yet)! The video hit the spot with many issues I face on a daily basis but the overriding theme is the seemingly uphill struggle encountered when trying to simply communicate with councils.

Their default defensive stance and the hurdles they put in the way of common sense solutions seem bizarre when like Robin i take in vulnerable people and give them a roof over their head. I yes of course want the rent to be paid but I see myself also as saving the councils thousands of pounds every year by housing the people they cannot house. Bed and breakfast is very expensive. My council actively encourages tenants to stay put following service of a section 21 until the court order has been obtained. Why a responsible public authority should encourage that I do not know. Well I do know - it is because they have a waiting list as long as your arm so they buy time by encouraging this activity. They take an inordinate length of time to respond to the most simplest of queries. I accept they are understaffed but its counter productive and just produces extra costs further down the chain

I am viewed with suspicion at every turn and no one thinks of picking up a phone and simply asking me my view.
I have one such vulnerable tenant at the moment and social services the EHO and the housing benefit team are seemingly conspiring to mess it all up for me and the tenant. We are in agreement about a way forward. We both put our names to a letter I drew up to outline the current position and 2 weeks later it hasn`t even drawn a courtesy response to say they are looking into the case. I have invited social services and the EHO and the health visitor and the support worker and the LHA team to work together but they are just not interested. They work in offices 20 yds from each other but I know more about what the other is doing than they do because they do not routinely talk to each other. They often berate each other and play the blame game when conflict arises and cannot see the irony of what they say. I`m not perfect by any stretch but at least i will listen and respond and try to rectify where I have fallen short.

I am positive by nature and I look at why this is happening. I don`t believe for one moment that the individuals involved who work for these public bodies want to go about their duties in this chaotic manner. They are probably good hearted individuals who want to help and do a good job but cant because the systems they have to work within ties their hands up in knots. So managers have to be retrained and multi agency cooperation should be the norm not the exception. The starting point should be - The LHA Landlord is your friend not your foe. He /She is there to assist the council in housing your homeless. They should be on your Homeless Team working with you on a daily basis. Streamline the system to create a smooth flow to provide the homeless with a decent safe property. I can provide that if you work with me not against me. Thats what i do. Talk to me! Don`t hide behind data protection but put systems in place to be open and sharing.

Some councils are much better than others at this but much more needs to be done. If i had one piece of advice to conclude with it would be

- Lets work together - Talk to me I don`t bite!

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

13:37 PM, 25th October 2011, About 13 years ago

Fantastic post as always Jonathan, I'm so glad you decided to comment. Your passion for the PRS and authorities working together is very welcome here.

Mary Latham

23:12 PM, 25th October 2011, About 13 years ago

I agree with Mark a great post Jonathan. Have you thought about writting a blog for 118? Your posts on PT are always so worth reading because of your great attitude to this business. I pinch quotes from many of your posts. I think that many landlords would like to read what you have to say and I am certain that Mark would really welcome your contribution to this site.

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