Survival of the fittest?

We have seen tenant bodies jumping up and down, demanding, lobbying and creating over grievances with landlords. They have achieved major reform but it appears the results are so detrimental to tenants, they are already calling for more major reform. When you try and put a fire out by pouring liquid on it, if you are ill informed you can mix up water with petrol and make the situation worse.

Understanding the problem and finding a considered evaluated and evidenced solution is the only way to ensure improvement.

Much of the tenant’s legislation is based on emotion and perceived grievance. Misdirected laws make things worse for many tenants and landlords and the ignorant tenant lobbies will continue calling for the wrong solutions.

Take Awaab’s law. It’s based on a case of mould where the cause was never determined. It’s quite remarkable that we build and base laws on cases where there was no evidence to support the legislation that underpins the new law. In that case mould was found, but no cause was found. The ombudsman and coroner concluded it could not have been at least partly down to the tenants, but they had ZERO evidence to support this. This was a tragic case and a child died, but it is in everybody’s interest to determine the cause and the coroner failed to do this. In this case the coroner reached conclusions that were without evidential foundation.

Once you have processes like this objectivity is lost and laws are introduced according to the loudest voices. This is exactly what has happened with the RRA, what evidence was used to underpin any of the laws in this legislation.

Whilst the tenants bodies have been very effective at getting laws changed it’s unlikely the people they support to help will see benefits. It appears to me the liquid they are pouring on the flames is not water but fuel.

Whilst landlords have lacked an effective input into the legislators’ pens, the tenant lobbies appear counter productive.

If landlords can make just a single point, it should be that any future law changes are based on objectivity and evidence and not emotion and grievance. This could be done by landlords demanding evidence before change. If landlords can lobby MP’s on just one thing, it should be to stop introducing laws on flawed logic.

What does the property118 community think?

Thank you,

Paul