Letter: We need to stop this anti-landlord sentiment

Bryan Smith got in contact in response to our special report about the district's rental market.

Rising costs for tenants led to calls that the situation is now an emergency - with fears that many are being priced out of a home.

Here's what Bryan had to say...

Support our landlords

I saw your article on the rental situation in South Holland.

Homeless charity Shelter is extremely biased and anti-landlord, so much that they have influenced Government policy which has caused homelessness, the very thing they are supposed to fight against.

With their help - and the anti-landlord attitudes that have worked their way through every level of society - they are a direct cause of the problem.

The Private Rental Sector (PRS) was doing a fine job of providing good homes for those wishing to rent rather than buy, reasons for which are numerous and not just because they cannot afford to buy as Shelter would have you believe.

There are always some who will take advantage both on the landlord side but mostly the tenant side. However, severe legislation has been introduced and continues to roll in to regulate and punish the PRS landlords.

We are talking about people who run property as a business. Just like people with holiday homes or B&Bs or hotels. All, in principle, rent out rooms.

The PRS sector is not treated as a business by Government, yet they and local authorities impose draconian levels of interference which has cost landlords dearly over the last few years.

The result is 56% of landlords are either selling or about to sell their properties. This means rental stock is falling faster than any time in history.

SHDC will never be able to replace that lost stock and does not have the means to cope with that demand.

The PRS has had to cope with Section 24, Section 21, wired in smoke and heat detectors (previously battery operated), CO monitors, tenants causing damp through misuse and now additional items like security lighting, emergency lighting and a licence from the local authority (at another cost) to allow a private person to rent their property to a private person.

There is no other private business where the Government interferes so much.

Those private property owners who can run a business and provide top quality homes for potential renters should be supported, helped and encouraged to take on the run-down properties and bring them to a good standard and back onto the market. If the PRS sector does not do it, who will?

Bryan Smith

via email

Do you agree with Bryan? Let us know your views by emailing andrew.brookes@iliffepublishing.co.uk