Maureen Tread
17 Thanks
92 Posts
I wonder if there is scope for a documentary on the anti landlord campaigning by Shelter and Generation Rent has made life for tenants far worse.
There are plenty of tenants out there who have received eviction notices from homes they have lived in for many years because the landlord has simply 'thrown in the towel'. We Osbourne's attempt to 'professionalise' the market has led to higher rents. The corporate market did indeed provide properties but only at the high end of the market with rents 10-15% higher than the small landlord market.
NLA did a good job at the Select Committee hearing on Rental Reform but I think there is more to do.
I'd like to see a move to becoming more 'tenant friendly' and setting up a joint tenant landlord national forum. All Shelter and Generation Rent have done is make life worse for tenants by driving landlords to sell. The real problem is the lack of investment in council houses for those on low incomes, not the private rental market.
If we could get a few good case studies (heart-grabbing cases where perhaps an older landlord has had to sell the property with a tenant with whom they had a good relationship with both sides telling their story and upset by what has happened) there is potential for a documentary but it would need a good strap line.
The focus has to be that landlords have been the whipping boys for failed housing policy over many years (particularly the sale of council houses and failure to replace). A secondary focus, is that the actions of Shelter and Generation Rent are discriminatory. The PRS is essential for migrant workers which has a high proportion of ethnic minorities. Loss of the PRS will unfairly affect these.
How about it NLA? Another string to your bow. A competitor for Shelter (National Tenant and Landlord Forum) that looks for real solutions for what is a genuine problem created by poor policy. Maybe apply to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for funding. (Yes, I am serious!).
