Landlords — one letter away from criminal status?

Well, Reform has pledged to abolish the RRA, so I know where my vote is going in the next General Election.

When the PRS database gets rolled out later this year I’m sure Labour will use it as a tool to name and shame LLs with any fines small or large.

Terrible environment for LLs. I have property inspection from the council next week as part of so called ‘Selective’ licensing. I am dreading it from some over zealous/ LL hating inspector itching to dish out income generating fines that I am sure I will get for very minor stuff and I’m not even in the rogue category but will get treated like one for sure.

Lets start with 2 metrics to measure the success of this Act
1. Cost of monthly Rent
2. Number of properties available to rent

Reply to the comment left by Roger Radford at 26/05/2026 – 10:21
The thing is – can you believe them,
I do not.

Reply to the comment left by Roger Radford at 26/05/2026 – 10:21
It won’t be a quick fix, the RRA will be so embedded by the time of the next election that it will take much political will, time and effort to replace it with something more acceptable to landlords, even if that is the intention. Many Reform voters are likely to be renters and a new government will be as conscious as its predecessors of the need to retain their support. The best we could probably hope for in the short term is the removal of the draconian penalties that have been introduced by the RRA. Reintroduction of something similar to S21 would be particularly problematic and unlikely to be retrospective – old protected tenancies were never converted to ASTs.

Simplistic promises are rarely kept in the way you expect.

Well dear UK, between not having any faith in ‘Rachel from accounts’, as a landlord and economist; fed up with the dual standards of MPs which many might call corrupt, and being made to feel like a criminal when I personally have done NOTHING WRONG. BUT WICKED AND NASTY TENANTS HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO TREAT ME LIKE s**t … And on top of the 200+ pages the government expects us to read and cope with from the RRA and for heavens sake – what do I know about making tax digital and IT !!!??? My solution is simple…. I’m leaving, and taking my money with me . Bye bye…

Here’s my repeated take on the £7000 fine, I’m gonna do a video in next few weeks for all you fans who are missing me:

April 2026 Govt now fining us £7000 each tenant for every RRA act letter we cannot prove we’ve gave to the tenant-In ten years time. We get fined £7000 for an admin error for a letter the tenant can get off the internet just like we have to. This time Govt gone too far. We Housing Providers. Many of us don’t want the houses & only keeping for the tenant. And you want to fine us £7000 for an error where no one has got hurt?

£7000 for a paperwork error each tenant & even if you have gave em the sheets, if you lose your proof, you’ve had it. I can stab someone & get less. Parking ticket £60. No car insurance £200. Letter that tenants not bothered about £7000?

I tell me Landlord mates in the gym, they can’t believe it. I say It’s really easy, go on Google put £7000 fine Landlord in. They come back next day & say Wow cannot believe it, I would never have never known, that’s it, I’m selling.

I bike Sundays with 10-15 lads. Some have houses, I tell them, they flabbergasted, they had no idea.

I’ve got several expensive (for Nottingham) nice bungalows nice areas I was maybe never gonna’ sell. I’m even selling them now if/when the tenant should ever leave. Govt gone too far now. Renters group love it, but someone please tell em, they’ve now voted for something that’s made their houses more expensive & cut supply. My tenants understand fully what the Govt & Councils are doing to them, they’ve known for years I wish to sell but they now can’t get anywhere any more. All started since George Osborne Sec 24 2015, then Selective Licensing 2018, then UC, the list goes on.

I heard on pretty decent authority that in MHCLG’ working group that formulated the statutory guidance with the starting levels for fines that a representative from ‘Justice For Tenants’ was on the panel who presented a bunch of past FTT case decisions that were all London weighted. No landlords, no one properly representing that outside London things are different.

Reply to the comment left by Simon F at 27/05/2026 – 01:47
There are many points of failure in the chain of events. First the people who suggest disproportionate fines should not be given a voice. But more importantly there are safeguards that catastrophically failed. All the MP’s who voted for this outrageous discrimination should understand they are making the rental situation worse.

It is quite extraordinary that anyone can be given a £7000 fine for not providing by very specific means a four page letter that is freely available on the internet.

It is testament to the poor state of the countries government that such disproportionate, wasteful and damaging statute can be brought into force.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Smith at 27/05/2026 – 08:53
Tony Blair knows that this is in effect an attack on business and it will cause the Labour Party to lose the next election and cease to be a political force. The Labour government should identify the problems that need to be solved to prevent economic collapse instead of behaving like a bunch of drunken socialist students. Disproportionate penalties means that the present practice of hate has ended any credibility in Labour.