Posts with tag: private housing debate

The National Landlords Association has reacted furiously to a Citizen’s Advice report into the condition of the housing market.

Richard Lambert, chief executive of the NLA, said that the report from Citizen’s Advice used, ‘loose definitions to compound a perception that private housing is insecure and unsuitable across the board.’ Lambert believes that this report goes ahead a number of reasons that oppose this theory.[1]

Mr Lambert points to the fact that, ‘the English Housing survey finds that the average tenancy now lasts just shy of four years and that only seven per cent of tenancies are ended by landlords.’ He went onto to say that the NLA’s own research shows that, ‘86% of families consider their properties as their home and that 62% do not see renting as a barrier to family life.’[1]

‘Furthermore, just 0.5% of families who rent privately say they’ve had to move because their landlord increased their rent,’ he added.[1]

 

Fabrication

The National Landlords Association believes that the Citizens Advice portrayal of the private rented sector is a fabrication. The organisation feels that their own analysis dispels the notion that the market is, ‘failing systematically to deliver what consumers want.’[1]

Lambert suggests that those are suffering as a result of the criminal minority are doing so as a result of failure of councils to set aside sufficient resources that enforce the law. In addition, he feels that successive failures of recent governments to prioritise the building of new houses is also to blame on not relieving some of the pressure.

 

[1] http://www.propertyflock.co.uk/f/447495F46