Complaint going in to the BBC over attitude towards landlords

The BBC were quoting from a statement made by David Orr, the Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation so I am not sure how else they could have put the statement. They did include a comment from the NLA so there was balance in the article.

Perhaps the answer is for the likes of the NLA to issue counter statements of how many extra properties have been provided in that time by the PRS due to the lack of supply by local authorities and housing associations.

As to the figures, as a taxpayer I am equally concerned at the increase in Housing Benefit being paid and if this cost can be reduced by housing associations and local authorities providing more properties then I welcome it – preferably with them raising the necessary finance in the private sector to build more homes.

Reply to the comment left by “Kathy white” at “22/08/2016 – 16:08“:

I wonder how much BBC staff are lining their pockets with public money (i.e. licence fees)…?

Perhaps Property118, Property Tribes, other landlord sites, could run a little expose about the BBC…

To those on here who say the article isn’t biased, the headline is deliberately inflammatory and deeply offensive…. It directly holds private landlords responsible for the costs of housing benefit. If the author wished to be unbiased, this could simply be quoted in the body of the article.

We landlords don’t set housing costs, our rents simply reflect what we in turn must pay to maintain our rental properties and pay our mortgages (often high) and hopefully earn a very small living on top of that. I would love to reduce my tenants’ rents, but I’d have no money and be out of business within months – especially if my mortgage company came to hear of it!

The BBC story is one reason why I won’t take tenants on housing benefit. They need somewhere to live, which is a human right, but when private landlords house them, they are treated like dirt for doing so. I feel sorry for the poor landlords who have no choice than to take housing benefit tenants!

I have the luxury of taking exactly the tenants I want – and there is no way I would give someone a tenancy unless they are more than able to afford my rents and they are happy with the property.

There was quite a difference between the print version and the televised version. The print version did, finally, give an alternative less biased view…the televised version did not.