15 December 2006

TOP ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SPECIALIST JOINS RLA TEAM

Leading local authority environmental health professional Neil Marsden is now working alongside one of the UK’s foremost professional bodies for private sector residential landlords. The Residential Landlords Association - whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK – has engaged Neil as a consultant with responsibilities including local authority liaison, accreditation, housing standards and training development.

5 January 2007

THE DISABILITY ACT  - THE FINALE TO A LESS THAN PERFECT YEAR

The Residential Landlords Association has given a cautious reception to the new Disability Discrimination Act. The leading professional association – whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK – is sympathetic with the special needs of disabled tenants but concerned about the timing of the new legislation. “Landlords are still a little shell-shocked from the effects of the Housing Act,” says the association’s lawyer and lobbying team leader, Richard Jones. “It’s not be the best time to hit them once again with even more potentially heavy costs.

22 January 2007

LANDLORDS OPPOSE THE GOVERNMENT’S WETTEST IDEA YET

It’s disruptive … expensive … and there is no demand for it ... but the government is determined that every tenant of a privately rented shared house should have a washbasin in their bedroom. It’s the latest “excessive amenity standard” in a list that already wants six or more sharing tenants – typically young people or students - to have at least two baths and two toilets in three different compartments … plus a wash basin alongside every toilet. “Tenants don’t expect, require or need all this and 58 out of 60 local authorities polled are against the washbasin idea,” says the Residential Landlords Association - whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK.

INTERVIEWS

• Chris Town interviewed by property writer Chris Partridge about the Tenancy Deposit Scheme for the Independent.
• Andrew Strange at B2L (Mortgage Express) referred to Richard Jones re HMOs
• Chris Town interviewed by property writer Chris Partridge about landlord insurance for the Independent.
• Chris Town interviewed by the Mail on Sunday on bad tenants and how to avoid problem