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17:59 PM, 30th October 2014, About 10 years ago 105
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With the 2015 elections coming up in six months time it’s time for landlords to start lobbying their MP’s. We need them to realise that over 1 million UK based landlords have a voice and have needs.
I am urging all landlords to write to their MP with a letter similar to my own (see below in italics).
You can be sure that tenants and lobby groups such as Shelter will be doing the same, so if we landlords keep quiet, as the usually do, the only voices MP’s will hear in terms of issues surrounding the PRS will be from those who despise landlords.
My letter to my MP (sent by email) ……
SUBJECT:- Forthcoming elections
“Dear Mr Freeman
As a resident of your constituency, and along with more than a million landlords operating in the residential private rented sector, I am beginning to consider who to vote in the forthcoming elections. I want to be certain that you will support landlords in parliamentary debates so I would be interested to understand how you feel about the following issues which are of primary concern to myself and my peers..
Like me, most landlords are simple hard working folk who invest into property to fund their retirement and who ask just 3 basic things from their tenants:-
No landlord enjoys periods when rent isn’t coming in! That’s why we want our tenants to stay long term. The cost of refurbishment between tenancies and re-letting far exceeds the cost of maintaining our properties and relationships with our tenants.
What landlords need is a quicker system to evict tenants if they don’t do any of the 3 basic things listed above.
Job mobility necessitates a larger PRS, it’s growth must not be allowed to be stifled in any way.
No tenant lives in poor conditions out of choice, increased availability of PRS property will create competition and resolve problems without the need for regulation. Supply and demand is basic economics.
We need Councils to use their existing powers to close down the rogue operators who tarnish the reputation of the private rented sector.
What we don’t need is more regulation (local or National) to be funded by stealth taxes on landlords (AKA licensing or registration fees). I doubt tenants would vote for this either when they realise it puts an upward pressure on the rent they pay and there are thought to be around 5 million tenants in the UK.
The powers granted to local authorities to implement Additional and/or Selective licensing need to be removed. These powers negatively effect property values and insurance premiums for all property owners, regardless of whether they are owner occupiers or landlords. Also, there is no strong evidence to suggest that licensing reduces anti-social behaviour, which is why these schemes were introduced in the first place.
CGT rollover relief is applicable to landlords who invest in commercial property, but not residential property. That is counter intuitive! Tax reforms are needed to encourage residential landlords to trade up and to create more churn in the property market.
Please let me know which of my above comments you agree or disagree with so that I may consider how I will vote at the next election, and so that I may publish your reply at Property118.com for my fellow landlords within and outside your constituency to read.
One final question please; do own one or more residential properties yourself which you let to tenants? A simple yes or no to this question is all that is required.
Yours sincerely
Mark Alexander”
Important footnotes to Property118 members
You can find details of your MP here
You MUST quote your address in correspondence.
When you have sent your letter please post a comment below.
When you receive a reply from your MP please post that below too. If it’s a long letter please email to mark@property118.com and I will get it linked to your comment so that it can be opened in PDF format.
Is your MP a #landlords champion? – http://t.co/8gem3z87W9
— Mark Alexander (@iAmALandlord) October 30, 2014
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Revenge Eviction or was the landlord right?
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
19:01 PM, 21st November 2014, About 10 years ago
To all following this discussion thread, things are getting SERIOUS.
Please see my latest article linked below.
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MoodyMolls
8:23 AM, 22nd November 2014, About 10 years ago
Hi Mark
Sent letter, also this week I sent a letter to the Housing Minister as RLA was requesting this to lobby against Retaliatory Eviction.
I Think it would be really really great if every landlord done this. I am a member of Green peace and they have accomplished great things by the power of the people.
They get all members to sign petitions and email constantly companies and people in power and keep the pressure up .
Anne Nixon
10:20 AM, 22nd November 2014, About 10 years ago
Okay, that;s mine sent (with a few personalising tweaks!)
Anne
Adrian Matthews
15:27 PM, 22nd November 2014, About 10 years ago
Sent mine too
Michael Freer
10:45 AM, 23rd November 2014, About 10 years ago
I've sent the letter, even though mine is stepping down at the next election, and have asked them to relay my comments to their successor as well as starting to act on my letter right away, by discussing it with their counterparts as and when they communicate with them. By doing so it moves it up the agenda to a "hot topic" that gets publicly discussed during the run up to elections as well as beyond.
Adrian Matthews
11:06 AM, 24th November 2014, About 10 years ago
Below is the reply from my MP.
Dear Mr Matthews,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I fully agree that a vibrant private rental sector is essential and also agree that over-regulation (of the sort that is to be introduced in Wales and which Labour propose to bring in in England) would be very damaging to that sector.
As a former [property lawyer, I know only too well what damage was done to the sector by the old Rent Acts, which Margret Thatcher rightly reformed. I am hoping to write an article very soon on this precise issue.
The question of CGT relief is one for the Chancellor and I would strongly urge that your association lobby him for a commitment in the next Conservative manifesto.
I am not a private residential landlord.
Rt Hon David Jones MP / AS
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
12:12 PM, 24th November 2014, About 10 years ago
Reply to the comment left by "Adrian Matthews" at "24/11/2014 - 11:06":
I will be happy to share his paper on Property118 once it is published, please let him know 🙂
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Adrian Matthews
12:14 PM, 24th November 2014, About 10 years ago
Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "24/11/2014 - 12:12":
will do
Yvette Newbury
15:33 PM, 24th November 2014, About 10 years ago
Done mine, thanks very much for the push Mark Alexander. You are right all landlords should be doing this! We spend so much time looking after others well-being (our tenants) that we often neglect to look after ourselves too!
Kulasmiley
21:20 PM, 24th November 2014, About 10 years ago
Reply to the comment left by "Rosalind " at "31/10/2014 - 13:55":
Wow, I will vote for you Rosalind!! Seriously that was almost Martin Luther King like of the Welsh Valleys!! Great to read, easy to understand, and you make us Welsh landlords look well "hardworking lol"... I want to cut and paste this and stick it on my wall, so I feel appreciated.
Nice one Rosalind...