RLA : RPI : Making representations

News from the Residential Property Investor, the bi-monthly magazine for RLA members

other artilces from the November / December 2002 issue

Making representations - November / December 2002

The Queen's Speech contained measures that will have a big impact on our industry. It is proposed that housing benefit would be paid directly to tenants and capped and the power to operate as a landlord would be controlled by councils through licensing. As it is, we are already over-regulated with 58 Acts of Parliament governing our sector. Never forget that the threat of possession being made more difficult is always lurking in the background.

Threats to the livelihoods of this generation of landlords have never been greater. If the private rented sector is to have any impact on this new legislation, we shall need professional campaigning backed up by research, case studies and well reasoned argument.

Making ad hoc representations to government departments has no effect.

Nowadays, the message must be delivered to the right source and this can only be achieved through professional campaigning as outlined in an article in this edition.

In the modern era, it is also necessary to deal with government 'spin', something our industry has suffered from since the 1960s. Professional media representation and proper press releases are a requirement, not an extra, to ensure that the Government is aware that the public knows the whole story. Moreover, the media will only print stories from trusted sources fellow professionals.

Such representation requires considerable resources, which can only be mustered by strong landlord representative organisation. Now more than ever, landlords need to come together to make the case for private renting and make sure that it is heard.

Martin J Moylan

other artilces from the November / December 2002 issue

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