Meet the team: Douglas Haig, our Non-Executive Director for Wales

Landlord, businessman and tireless PRS campaigner, our non-executive director for Wales, Douglas Haig is just as comfortable in front of a Lords committee as he is a landlord forum.

The father-of-two invested in his first buy-to-let while at university back in 2001, when he clubbed together with fellow students to buy a nearby property. Since then, he has built his buy-to-let portfolio alongside a property services, lettings and sales business – giving him a unique insight into the sector.

Always keen to fight for the rights of fellow landlords he became chair of the quarterly Cardiff Landlord Forum back in 2008, nominated by the outgoing chair due to his reputation as ‘the one always asking questions’. He joined NRLA legacy organisation the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) shortly after, before becoming a key member of the NRLA board representing the interests of landlords - including those in Wales - following the merger with the National Association of Landlords (NLA) in 2020.

After a period of unprecedented change in Wales over the last decade, he is now calling on the successful party in next month’s Senedd elections to take their time to consider what is best for the sector – and those living in it. “The PRS in Wales is just starting  to recover from a turbulent few years following the introduction of Rent Smart Wales and the Renting Homes (Wales) Act”, he said. “With confidence slowly starting recover, the last thing we need now is more upheaval."

"We are already facing a rental supply crisis – and the current talk of rent controls and further erosions of repossession rights is at risk of exacerbating that. For some time now, we have been calling for a Welsh Housing Survey, allowing us to build a body of evidence about the state of the sector, with good policy always based on facts, not ideology. This data will enable us to focus cost effective programmes and intervention and would also help in identifying ways of encouraging landlords to invest and offer the high quality, affordable homes that are so desperately needed. We need a strategy to grow all sectors, not restrict one in favour of another."

Douglas also wants politicians to give serious thought to the challenge faced when it comes to improving the energy efficiency of the Welsh housing stock. A subject close to his heart, he says landlords need sufficient time to carry out works and clear timelines for change, adding: “I have been talking about this for the best part of 10 years, representing landlords' concerns about how they are going to carry out the works. It's a challenging situation across the board, but the ageing housing stock in Wales makes things even more complicated. “I would like landlords to be given time for the new EPC methodology to bed in, as well as a central database of funding pots and the criteria to access them, to ensure landlords and tenants can access financial support where needed.”

Building a community

With almost two decades at the helm of the Cardiff Landlord Forum, Douglas is encouraging landlords to get involved in campaigning at a local level.

He said: “I have seen a lot of change in the 25 years I have been a landlord, including wave after wave of new legislation. This has seen some landlords leave the sector, but we have also seen new landlords join.

“By becoming an engaged member of your NRLA landlord community, you are not only assured you will be kept up to speed with upcoming legislation change, you can also rely on the support of fellow landlords when it comes to facing the challenges up ahead, not to mention our comprehensive documents, advice and resources.

“We are building a robust community of property professionals here in Cardiff – and across Wales –  and strong local support can only amplify our voice where it counts."

Want to know more?

The Cardiff Landlord Forum meets bimonthly at County Hall in Cardiff Bay. For details of upcoming meetings in Cardiff and across all the Welsh regions, check out our events calendar here.

You can also visit our dedicated NRLA Wales hub here.