Podcast: Cladding crisis and managing a portfolio hundreds of miles from home

Around 750,000 landlords are believed to have been affected by the cladding crisis, with many now facing crippling costs for remedial works and additional safety measures such as waking watches.

In this month's edition of NRLA podcast Listen Up Landlords we talk to landlord Steve Bagnall who was left counting the cost after investing in a buy-to-let as part of his pension.

Despite initially getting the all-clear in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster as the building his flat was in didn't have the same ACM cladding, leaseholders were last year told the expanded polystyrene cladding on the building had been found to be flammable and would need to be removed.

In the meantime a waking watch was introduced, seeing service charges rocket. He talks about his experiences, with Andrew Bulmer of the Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM) joining the conversation to examine the scope of the problem and shares the latest on Government support to tackle it.

Elsewhere in the show Dan Cumming of the NRLA advice team talks about the hot topics on the phonelines throughout the month, including issues with student lets if tenants have to isolate.

And last, but by no means least, we talk to property investor Harvey, who has shunned convention to build up a property portfolio in Stockton-on-Tees, almost 300 miles from his home in Essex.

He talks about why he made the decision to become a remote investor and how he runs his business.

To listen to the latest podcast - and previous episiodes visit nrla.org.uk/podcast

If you enjoy the show, please spread the word on your social media channels using the hashtag #listenuplandlords.

You can now pick up a CPD point to be used towards NRLA accreditation by listening to the podcast. To log your point, visit the accreditation dashboard in the ‘Your Account’ section of the NRLA website. Select ‘Other’ then ‘NRLA Podcast’ from the dropdown menu.

More information

You can read an article on the cladding crisis in the summer edition of Property magazine here. (Page 26)

The NRLA training academy also runs an eClassroom course on The Key to Property Investment. You can find out more here.