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Activists use ‘Tenant Charter’ bid to win over local councils

The Baroness leading a renters’ pressure group wants to work with councils to push tenants’ rights.  

Baroness Alicia Kennedy, director of Generation Rent, claims two thirds of private renters are unaware that councils can help them with certain problems.

It says 49 per cent of private renters have experienced damp and mould in their rental property; it also claims only 21 per cent received a government guidance booklet from their landlord.

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Generation Rent - which has made its claims to coincide with its appearance at a local government conference this week - says it’s working with five councils to create a Private Tenant Engagement Charter.

It claims a lack of awareness of rights results in tenants putting up with poor conditions.

It also claims 49 per cent of respondents to a survey said they had dealt with damp and mould in their rental property, and 27 per cent “experienced concerns about their health while renting.”

Baroness Kennedy says: “Private renters are at a greater risk of living in an unsafe home than any other tenure, and they are least likely to understand their rights and who can help them deal with problems. 

“The government has proposed the introduction of a new portal to inform tenants, as well as new powers to raise standards. 

“Local authorities will continue to play a critical role, but to make best use of these new tools, our Private Tenant Engagement Charter will help them better understand of renters who live locally.

“The pioneering councils we have worked with have helped shed light on a huge section of their residents who don’t get enough attention, and we’ve found that wherever you are in the country the same problems persist. 

“Every council can improve private renters’ lives by taking just a few steps to make them more visible and make sure they are listened to.”

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

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    Who Believes these Surveys ? If Private Rental is So Bad why am I getting 60+ enquiries within days of putting a property up to rent.

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    Looks like the Councils are Activities doing as much damage as possible to Private Rented Sector Landlords who houses millions of Tenants with private funds and burdened by Council’s rule which they exempt themselves from. What then there not going to house them. Alicia no need to win over Council’s you are pushing at an open door, you are already in bed with them.

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    (Activist’s typo)

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    Where do they pluck these figures from ? total BS

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    It is certainly not my experience that tenants do not realise the council is there to help them. The opposite tenants would rather report faults to the council and sometimes create issues which do not exist in order to try and get rehoused by the council. Mould and damp issues which exists in social housing have always in my experience been down to lack of ventilation and heating. Nothing to do with the property condition.

    The credibility of the Baroness is brought into question when she ignores some appalling conditions that exist in social housing and they receive enormous subsidies and just focuses on the private sector.

    It is clear that the government do not want private landlords any more.

    Jim Haliburton
    The HMO daddy

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    Boris has publicly stated he wants a smaller PRS - he also stated he wants a third term as PM so its all just pie in the sky!

     
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    “Baroness Kennedy says: “Private renters are at a greater risk of living in an unsafe home than any other tenure, and they are least likely to understand their rights”

    There you go the Baronness stating that a tenant has less intelligence than a non tenant and either purposely moves into an unsafe home cos of this lack of intelligence or because of their lack of intelligence then goes on to make the home unsafe. This person is directly responsible for creating homelessness with her demands and she claims to represent the tenant. Creating a class divide

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    Generation Rent says "49 per cent of private renters have experienced damp and mould in their rental property".
    Probably that's because 48.99% of renters don't understand correct heating and ventilation. Sounds as if they don't know how to open a window.
    And, in probably 99% of damp and mould cases, the cause in the way the tenants live and nothing to do with the property.

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    Yes Marilyn. a homeowner creates this damp it’s is at the homeowners expense that they have to put it right and learn the habit of stopping this from reoccurring. A woe is me style tenant HAS to blame someone else for their mistake. It’s never of their making

     
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    Totally agree

     
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    As my properties come empty I'm fitting the slow constant running extractor fans, I find the best place for them is in the ceiling just outside the bathroom door, I'm also fitting small wall vents in bedrooms, so far I'm getting good results, I expect at some point I'll get the tenant that tapes them up though

     
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    With rights come responsibilities - but we never hear about that do we? Most tenancy deposit disputes are about arrears, cleanliness & damage - all the responsibility of tenants!

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    Problem is, this is not proper research. Buildings insurance for rental properties is higher than for equivalent type of properties that are owner occupied. This is not because of the properties themselves, in fact rentals have to have safety checks that owner occupiers don't have to bother with. It's down to tenant behaviour. For example fires are more likely in rental properties due to smoking, electrical faults (with tenant's appliances not the electrical supply), chip pan fires, tenants having disabled smoke alarms, not replaced batteries, rubbish being piled up etc. Tenants are less likely to notice faults like leaks, and where they do, they don't always bother to report them until the ceiling falls in. And as for black mould that tenants insist is caused by damp coming in through the walls, in my experience it is always caused by tenant lifestyle, drying washing indoors, never opening the windows, etc. So it's not the property that is more unsafe, it is the tenants that directly cause those safety issues. This should be a valid reason for giving notice, but of course it won't be in future.

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    The Council doesn’t know any more about damp than you or the tenant. Usually they just fob the tenant off with “it’s your lifestyle causing the condensation”. Even if it’s not and the landlord is willing to spend money to fix the problem. Damp can be an absolute nightmare to diagnose especially in houses designed to have open fires and single glazed windows. Many so called experts are just trying to rip you off with unnecessary work that won’t fix the problem.

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    If you don’t like the person you are married to you can divorce them walk away. The PRS without Section 21 means you are stuck to a problematic tenant until you sell the property

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    I got a room back yesterday. Lovely tenant, always paid rent early, etc. Today I have to spend the day cleaning bits of mould off walls and order a new bathroom radiator as the current one has gone rusty. The windows were firmly shut, the trickle vents were closed and the extractor had been turned off at the isolator.
    This is in a high end house, with highly educated tenants and all bills included. There was no reason whatsoever to not ventilate it correctly.

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    49% is a lovely figure even if they claimed it was 9% I still wouldn’t believe them. I don’t have any in any of my properties now there’s a statement of fact.
    49% is remarkable close figure to the 46% Shelter alleged that Landlords withheld Deposits to bring in the Deposits Schemes in 2007 turned out to be totally untrue, when only less than 2% went to Deposits Resolution, making unsafe legislation base on a pack of pokies is more of the same, Congrats.

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    Well remember that most of these people in high profile jobs like the Baroness have to say something, (merely for the sake of it AND even if it is UNTRUE, EVERY NOW AND THEN TO JUSTIFY THEIR ROLE). Do they care? Oh! hell no way??
    It is far better if they focused on the state & quality of the council and Housing Assn. and put out some stats on them, just for comparison. That will never happen for obvious reasons to safeguard the councils and the Housing Assns.
    It is always bash the PRS??

  • PossessionFriendUK PossessionFriend

    I was negotiating with a Tenant to leave a rental property without the need for legal action and a CCJ against his name which will make it harder for him to be chosen amongst the many tenants applicants chasing each rental property.
    He told me that the Housing provision and cost situation was so bad in this country he's emigrating ( well - that's one way of ending the tenancy ;-)
    I reminded him that all the 'well-intentioned' campaigning and costs against Landlords over several years has led to this situation.

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    Well if landlords leave, then rents go up, because of supply and demand. Less available properties, means more demand for those that are left, it's simple economics 101.
    However my worry is that I had enough trouble removing a tenant who refused to pay any rent "because it wasn't a priority of his, at that time". He also said "because I had a second house, I must be rich, and therefore didn’t need his rent money". I did explain that if he didn’t pay the rent, then I cant pay the mortgage on the house, and the bank will want repossession. Either way he will be evicted. He still hung it out, and it was a very near thing, because the bailiff refused to move him out "because he had nowhere else to go". Well at this point I managed to blow my top, and convinced the bailiff to evict, as per the court order. The tenant was £6k in arrears at this point.
    If the government want to increase the tenants rights, what about our rights to evict a non paying free loading tenant?
    If I hired a car and refused to give it back, I would be arrested for theft, or at the very least, breach of contract. What rights and powers will landlords get, to remove these types of con artist tenants ASAP?
    Yeah right, I though so, none whatsoever! OK well that will mean even less landlords and even less rentable properties available, even more tenants looking for somewhere to rent, and even more rent increases. Looks like the 1970’s are coming back again!

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