Landlord pushes back on media’s negative view of landlords

A landlord has criticised the media for its one-sided negative portrayal of landlords.

Mick Roberts, one of Nottingham’s largest landlords to house benefit tenants, told Property118 that the media tends to depict landlords in an unfairly negative manner.

Mr Roberts is calling for more support to help landlords and to reverse Section 24.

Can a tenant never be asked to leave

Mr Roberts pointed out that programmes such as Daniel Hewitt’s investigations into the housing crisis do not ask landlords why they have decided to sell up.

Mr Roberts told Property118: “How is a landlord supposed to reclaim their property when they want or need to? Are you suggesting that a tenant can never be asked to leave?

“If so, this would discourage landlords from offering rental properties in the first place.”

In one programme, a tenant is given a Section 21 and struggles to find an affordable place to live.

Mr Roberts points out: “She mentioned that all other rents are £500 more per month. You should have realised that her landlord has been charging her £500 less than the market rate.

“How long can he sustain that? You never said, “Wow, why has he been charging you £500 less than he could get?” Why didn’t you go to the landlord to thank him and ask why he was offering such a significant discount?

Cruel tax trap

Mr Roberts says to help solve the housing crisis landlords need to be given more support.

He said:  “We need more help from the government to support tenants. The “cruel tax trap” known as Section 24, initiated by George Osborne in 2015, marked the beginning of the landlord sell-off, exacerbating homelessness.

“If more light is shed on this, the government might be seen as responsible for this mess and could fix it by scrapping this crazy tax rule.”

Daniel Hewitt’s full investigation report can be read here