The once “frosty relationship” between private landlords and their onetime Town Hall opponents is thawing even more – as landlords welcome local council officials to join their professional association.

The very people once considered as enforcement agents on the side of tenants – are being offered association membership of the UK’s leading Residential Landlords Association - whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK.

And the first local housing authority to take the further step in a closer working relationship is Blackpool.

“Traditional cautions are breaking down every month,” says RLA chairman Chris Town, “and offering associate membership of our professional association is a natural and logical progression that can only benefit us all.

“With spiralling levels of regulation and legislation governing the private rented residential sector it becomes even more important to work with authorities that past generations of landlords might have considered as ‘the other side’.

“And understanding each other is even more critical this year as the new Housing Act comes into force and creates sensitive areas of potential friction between us - including local licensing of the country’s 500,000 ‘HMOs’.”

Blackpool Council has a long tradition of working in partnership with local landlords and says Landlord Liaison Manager, Lorayne Ferguson, “we are always looking for ways to promote a healthy private rented sector.

“We are delighted to be able to pass on benefits of RLA membership, such as access to high quality tenancy agreements and up to date information, to members of the Blackpool Landlord Accreditation Scheme – which is, itself, a joint venture between the Council and the Blackpool Landlords’ Forum.” 

Associate membership of the Residential Landlords Association will not deliver the complete range of full member benefits but will give access the RLA website’s helpline, discussion forum and training resources.

Those features alone mean that the RLA is sharing specialist and legal advice along with views and opinions from some of the country’s most experienced professional landlords.

The traditionally cool relationship between landlords and many Town Hall officials began to disappear three years ago when the RLA began teaming up with local authorities to stage one-day courses on How to be a Successful Landlord.

In Salford, last year, the partnership was further cemented when the City Council joined forces with the Residential Landlords Association to broaden its landlords’ accreditation and training package.  Salford City Council now operates one the largest landlord accreditation schemes in the country, introduced a North West network for other authorities and organisations, and continues to provide a secretariat function for the network A-List.

“Authorities and Landlords Improving Standards Together” is one of the country’s most advanced regional networks. It covers over 30 North West local authorities who share key updates on new housing legislation, council policies, housing benefit regulations, antisocial behaviour laws and good practice.

“There is no future in the historically frosty stand-off between private sector landlords and local authorities,” said Caren Kihal, Principal Officer for Housing Market Support in Salford City Council’s Housing Services Division. “We can all benefit from working together.”

• Chris Town speaks on the relationship between local authorities and landlords to environmental health professionals at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Northern Centres annual symposium, at the Britannia Hotel, Newcastle Airport on Wednesday 5th April.