Shelter claim 45% of private renters are victims of illegal actions

Shelter claim 45% of private renters are victims of illegal actions

9:54 AM, 14th September 2021, About 3 years ago 23

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Shelter are claiming that 45% of private tenants in England are victims of some form of illegal behaviour carried out by their landlord or letting agent.

Research carried out on Shelter’s behalf by YouGov surveying 3,5000 PRS tenants reported 25% of tenants suffered landlords or letting agents entering a property without permission. The YouGov survey also found:

22% of tenants reported essential safety or household appliances like smoke alarms, central heating or water supplies were not working when they moved into a property.

18% said their landlord or letting agent had broken the law by failing to secure their deposit in an approved Government protection scheme.

9% reported they’d been threatened or harassed by their landlord or letting agent.

Polly Neate, Shelter’s chief executive said: “Home is everything. Yet millions of private renters across the country don’t feel safe or secure in theirs because of landlords and agents who flout the law.

“People should not have to put up with broken safety alarms, strangers bursting into their homes unannounced or the threat of harassment and violence. Enough is enough. Nobody is above the law and renters are tired of being powerless to enforce their rights.

“The government has promised voters a fairer private renting system that punishes illegal behaviour by landlords and letting agents. To deliver on this promise, its Renters’ Reform Bill must include a National Landlord Register that makes landlords fully accountable and helps drive up standards across private renting.”

Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action responded on Facebook: “Shelter UK you are just scaremongering, your stats are not a true reflection of the PRS, the 3500 tenants you would have surveyed are tenants that have contacted you, who naturally have issues with their landlords, so their percentage will be way higher.

“Didn’t the English Housing Survey say 83% of tenants are happy with their accommodation in the PRS. Of course, there is a lot of work to be done in raising standards. I think your strategy would be best suited pursuing the Social Landlords, especially after watching ITVs ‘ Living in Squalor’. Polly Neate I’m happy to debate with you.”


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Comments

Dilep

14:36 PM, 14th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Well said Helen,

Lets invite Shelter to debate how many LL's have been victims of harassment, loss of rent which is thousands, property damage, pet damage, ASB and more.

Polly Neate, we challenge you to debate if your think you can....

Chris Clare

14:41 PM, 14th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Glyn Moore at 14/09/2021 - 12:34
Absolutely agree Glyn, moreover this type of debate is likely to be more divisive than constructive and set more landlords and tenants at odds with each other.

But when you think about it Shelter and the likes are like arms dealers, the last thing they want is peace. We should all remember that when we read and respond this utter tripe. I feel the last thing they will ever do is come to the table, as no one needs arms if there is no war!

LordOf TheManor

14:41 PM, 14th September 2021, About 3 years ago

There are two housing rental markets. Why are government authorities allowed to dictate on the private sector's housing standard when they can't keep their own houses in order?

None of the local authority properties exposed by ITV were the subject of planned maintenance. No crisis management either. The long suffering tenants were totally ignored and would still be in those places if it weren't for TV cameras
.
What is the latest housing minister doing about it? Anyone heard from him???

Double standards, perpetrated by self-serving Shelter. When does the levelling up start?

JB

14:41 PM, 14th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Dilep at 14/09/2021 - 14:36
I volunteer to supply photos

Chris @ Possession Friend

14:55 PM, 14th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Ian Brand at 14/09/2021 - 10:45
Just send them our Instagram page ' TenantsBehavingBadly ' and if anyone has any photo's they like me to upload there, just forward.

JB

15:39 PM, 15th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Chris @ Possession Friend at 14/09/2021 - 14:55
I've just looked at the photos on your instagram page. Next time anyone says rent is too expensive I will show it to them.

If good tenants realised they are paying for that lot they would be campaigning for bigger deposits, quicker evictions and criminal penalties.

Poor tvenants, Shelter and the Government must really hate them.

Chris @ Possession Friend

15:50 PM, 15th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by JB at 15/09/2021 - 15:39
Its a shame that Associations that claim to ' REPRESENT ' landlords didn't have similar initiatives - instead of being ' Renting-Woke '

Old Mrs Landlord

10:56 AM, 16th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Paul Shamplina is to be congratulated on his riposte to Polly Neate, which mirrored my own words when I read the Shelter propaganda rants - the study is based on a completely unjustified extrapolation from a very small sample of biased tenants with a grievance against landlords and the figures are roundly refuted by the official government statistics from the English Housing Survey. A further outrageous claim in this report from Shelter not mentioned in the initial post here is that unsafe conditions are the status quo in the PRS! I don't doubt there are some PRS properties with unsafe conditions, but how many of these are caused by the actions of the tenants some of whom, in our experience, have a propensity to make "improvements" and modifications to, for instance, electrical equipment or simply do not report to their landlord when a problem arises with an appliance but carry on using it regardless?

Borrieboy

11:09 AM, 16th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 14/09/2021 - 10:42
It is to provide lucrative employment to a section of the population. Rather than sow discord amongst the PRS, Shelter would do better to promote harmony. Their website does indeed provide tenants with a complete toolkit to behave obnoxiously if they so choose, but never allow the owner of the place they live in any voice to publicise their concerns.

Chris @ Possession Friend

12:49 PM, 16th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Where are the NRLA in standing up against Shelter
They never have !

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