…for energy improvements

LED bulbs, loft insulation – yes, absolutely agree its a landlord’s duty.

But Floor insulation – for the whole ground floor of a property to be dug up (tenants accommodated elsewhere for some weeks) isn’t going to be done for £3,500.

I really would like to use whatever builder Heather employs though.

Of course the chancellor could have helped this situation in the budget by re-introducing Landlord’s Energy Saving Allowance (LESA) – (don’t think Phil and Heather are on speaking terms!)

Not a lot of legislation or Government proposals of much practical use in the Property Redress Scheme (PRS), but here’s one of the very few that will actually help the majority of good tenants and actually facilitate landlords to take ‘more of a risk’.

Because its not understood, that evaluating and taking risk, is the business a landlord is in to the tune of six figures.
(Whilst other Government proposals are to cap deposits and grant longer risk periods, read – Tenancies)

So John McDonnell proposes that a countrywide scheme would ‘prevent rogue landlords switching Local Authorities’

How do Rogue landlords ‘switch Local Authorities” then?

Do they sell up their sub-standard property in one area – purely because licensing has been introduced, and buy another property in a ‘non-licensed’ area?!

Not a lot going on ‘between the ears’ is there?

By the government not addressing the criminal tenants, they are blighting the rental conditions for the majority of good tenants (but can’t see that!). The equivalent is not funding a Police service and letting everyone sort their own problems out.

We’ve not quite got anarchy in the rental sector at present, although we do have a significant number of tenants defaulting on rent and other tenancy conditions.

We can see the result of this in the reducing number [circa 20% only] of landlords prepared to rent to tenants in receipt of benefit (okay, I admit Universal Credit hasn’t helped that).

Its a case of when does private debt impact upon the majority of law abiding tenants, and Landlords are seeing that but the government (and tenant groups) are not.