Why are landlords hated? Is it down to the BBC and rest of the media?

Pretty much spot on

Agree about time to someone told it how it is. ITV Channel 3 one of the worst every evening knocking Landlords non stop, add LBC who have gave years knocking landlords but recently taken their foot off the gas now that the damage is done.
All this attacking landlord have created so much homelessness, driven temporary Hotel accommodation sky high and putting them up in B&B costing taxpayers fortunes no wonder the incompetent bias Councils are broke just add Michael Gove the so called Housing Secretary and the picture is complete.

BBC selling off tv centre which we paid for with our taxes !

A good article, spot on for once. We all know how this has occurred….. But how does it stop 😬🤷‍♂️. There is so much momentum that I fear it’s just too ⏰ late.

I have never paid the TV license. They are a waste of space. F them.

Section 21 being referred to as a “no fault “ eviction giving the impression that a greedy landlord is evicting a poor tenant rather than doing repairs etc. I’m sure that the vast majority of section 21’s are issued to end a contract for perfectly legitimate reasons such as non payment of rent. Section 21 is an onerous process and I would much rather do repairs etc. than issue one.

Having said that, I am considering issuing one while I still can to a tenant who told me to eff off when I tried to increase his rent from £550 per month to £600 He has been on that rent for 4 years and the market rate is now £850. Any recommendations for legal services offering section 21 procedure would be greatly appreciated.

And even Private Eye which usually seems to me to be a well balanced source of news. When it mentions landlords/tenants it takes the government line without looking at the downsides of removing section 21 etc.

Most journalists are frustrated and constantly seeking new targets for people's hunger and hatred.

The media is influenced by what it hears and the majority of what it hears is from the various campaign groups. All they hear from us as a group is lacklustre defence from the NRLA with no positive PR being pumped out in the opposite direction. It’s no good simply being on the defence all the time as that gets us nowhere. We as a group should demand more of the NRLA otherwise we simply get what we deserve. Please please please NRLA form a proper PR department, sideline Ben Beadle whose efforts are appreciated but wide of the mark and get some proper positive spin out there!!

We are viewed as criminals carrying out a form of community service (providing housing), rather than as investors in property with customers with whom we contract.

Clearly we need a flow of good-landlord stories fed to the media which editors can find interest in publishing, and directors looking for new angles to televise, as a balancing force.
So - what can we proactively do about this?

An article that speaks some truth for a change - but who wants to hear the truth these days (Donald Trump knows it!). It's not just the media fuelling the anti landlord rhetoric it's also social media. It seems to be a part of the general anger and hatred that is alive and growing in our society - where's the kindness, where's the trust, where's the give and take? Tenant groups spend so much time inciting tenants against the landlord that we have almost become victims, cowering in fear of making a mistake that will land us in court.
I trusted a young man once who needed a place to rent, he told me he was ex-army and struggling to find a home - I rented a two bed semi to him at a low rent. He repaid me by growing cannabis in one of the bedrooms during covid, wrecking the place, leaving dog poo all over the garden and owing me £4000 when I eventually got him out. I have one buy to let left now and use a letting agent to manage it. It's rented to a nice Eastern European family, two small kids but no pets, they keep it very clean and have restored my faith in tenants to some extent.

Absolutely. Whenever the BBC use the word landlord they use a derogatory adjective in front of it. LBC are very anti landlord too.

For me, the biggest change since we started in BTL almost 20 years ago (when interest rates and margins were similar to now on average sized family homes) is attitude. Back then we had good relationships with tenants and provided/maintained good quality homes at reasonable rent. In return, in the main, the tenants looked after the houses pretty well. Most left by their own choice but on the rare times of using section 21 for various reasons, tenets took it as meant and found another home with appropriate referencesand no need to go to court at all. These days all vocal agencies including media (social and mainstream), CAB, tenants organisations and even local councils, are making this seem like a evil breech of human rights and actively encouraging tenants to sit tight and go to court at no expense to themselves. Hence the feeling mentioned above, that it is a way to get a year rent free.
So the courts have backlogs, the bailiffs have backlogs and landlords like us will sell the house when we finally get it back.

Let's not forget the likes of Gen Rent, Shelter et al adding to the pile-on. If you believe them, 95% of properties are sub-standard, their tenants are all freezing and we are throwing them out on the street for the fun of it.

Still prefer the old journalism etiquette, reporting the news, writing the story objectively. Providing information is the media's major function in the society. Journalists shouldn't take side in public eyes. Today, The media worship ratings, and readers use their viewing behaviour to support gossip and sensational news. This vicious cycle has resulted in the appearance of today’s media. To be fair, there are still some elegant journalists in BBC. Why this article headline did not mention other media who have strong bias?

Forget the BBC, the real reason landlords are hated is government policy. Ever since Osborne and Cameron started the mood music back in 2015 things have got worse. Why? Because they want to replace small private landlords with the City friends and build-to-rent companies.

Secondly, it makes them look more cuddly towards tenants. And tenants are usually YOUNG people who will simply vote longer! And the Tories know that landlords have nowhere to run.

Also landlords,have no money for repairs, not all .because of court costs with tenant evictions,

Andy Marshall, well done even when I used Solicitors years ago now cost £2’300. I believe a lot more difficult now any excuse to throw it out, Whether the Deposit wasn’t protected correctly or in time, if you hadn’t served latest addition of How 2 Rent guide before signing the Contact or you should have had a license but didn’t, given them the gas certificate and EPC loads of little lame duck excuses to cheat you. I would be careful about changing locks and make sure you have the Order in your hand first as they always seem to get extra time after Court day to get out regardless of arrears, anyway congrats.

The government has, intentionally or not, created a hostile environment - a historical colonial divide-and-rule atmosphere - where several parties with different agendas have been used to battle against each other for a
Government party to force through policies that might otherwise not be acceptable to the public. The big players are the government seeking votes and a cheap way out of the housing crisis by enacting an array of unfair regulatory laws; 2M landlords whose income and investment are no longer certain; tenants who are told by the government and their financed charities that landlords charge too much and provide a poor service; and the Councils that are funded less by central government and forced to find income from landlords and housing developers - this melting pot is, of course, all about money and very little about moral righteousness. Oddly, very few of the above parties are taking a pragmatic view. Instead, extreme views, policies and regulations are popping up and becoming the norm that, to any outsider, can see is a recipe for absolute disaster. It is easy to predict that the outcome will, if it's not already, lead to Councils becoming unable to function due to restricted finances, landlords investing elsewhere, and successive governments seen as incompetent and unable to solve major issues of the day.

Intenionally that's for sure they know what they are doing

I messaged LBC phone-in last night telling them how it is in no uncertain terms.
Low & behold if a Landlord did respond and said Landlords are greedy and that I should take a look in the mirror, a saying I had previously used on here so he no be on here to. He also said he only put up his Rent 12% in several years which is more than I did. Obviously he hasn’t been hit yet and living in clover in dream land, I doubt if he’s has done Licensing yet which cost me thousands per property, neither he nor I mentioned this or Section 24.
Have a nice day.

Conservative party has been privatising everything, they are privatising NHS through the back door. They created the small landlords as we know it now. They brought in ASTs and so on. There is always a backlash against all types of privatisation. Right now, it is against small Landlords. So they are trying to appease the tenants and creating a mess in the process. They hope large companies will take our place. It is another failure because, tenants want cheap and good accommodation, which cannot be provided by large companies as they have investors to satisfy. Where as Small landlords don't always increase the rents each year. The small landlords in general want good tenant, looking after property, paying their rent on time.
So tenants are loosing the very people they could have relied on for cheaper rent. Why, because some are naive, some are jealous or envious and some have ideological issues such as housing is a human right and health is a human right and son.
Ultimately once the small private landlords are gone, some will admit their mistake, some will blame the tenants, some will blame the small landlords and some will blame incompetent government.
The fact is PRS for small landlords will be gone soon. So prepare and move on.

I agree Pat
Big companies high rents that were its going