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James Smith

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Neither of these are true. You settle deposit claims at the end of the tenancy, and can deduct any outstanding arrears at this point. It is advisable to deduct damages first as rent is easier to pursue through small claims court. Paul, its quite simple to win deposit disputes if you have the evidence and your claims are reasonable. More often than not, its landlords not understanding the rules that means they don't get awarded what they claim for, not a fault of the deposit schemes.

From: James Smith 24 June 2020 11:43 AM

OK, so they need to be louder and more polemical. I certainly agree, they do need to be more vocal and I for one would be happy for them to just come out and call out Shelter and Labour for being quack Marxists who won't be happy until the concept of private property is abandoned. I think a lot of the service they provide, the advice and materials are good, but yes admittedly there are problems with the campaigning side of things. I think to a certain extent that goes beyond their control, successive governments hell bent on interfering in the PRS as a vote-winner are going to continually bend to the will of the tenant voter until they realise that the landlords have abandoned the PRS and all the tenants who were housed by them turn up on the door of social housing. LIke with all things, common sense and empirical evidence mean very little against the emotive things that Shelter and the like put out and there isn't much of a public sympathy for landlords. Its difficult to balance criticising the government thoroughly, which truth be told would probably be just telling the Ministry of Housing that every they are doing is completely wrong and maybe a bunch of civil servants don't know how things work in the real world, but this would very quickly fall on deaf ears and would make it far harder for any concessions to landlords to be achieved. The government wouldn't even listen to putting back the electrical safety whilst the pandemic is on-going despite most landlords being unable to get sparkys in, never mind the fact that it is staggeringly incompetently written, so even small sensible concessions aren't forthcoming. I just think the tide has turned irreversibly to the point at which only catastrophe would turn it back. It'll go back to the same state of affairs when the old Rent Act tenancies were in place and the govt. had to make the market more attractive for landlords again to keep the PRS going. Whether anyone will have the Thatcherite will to do so though will remain to be seen.

From: James Smith 16 June 2020 14:25 PM

Just out of curiosity, what would you have them do? There is a very strong anti-landlord bias from most corners of the country, and the government for some reason thinks it will get a bunch of ideologically zealous millennials voting Tory by bribing them with pro-tenant legislation, not realising you're not going to win over a load of kids who don't understand the things they believe because they mostly parrot what their sociology professors at university say or what they read in the Guardian. I get the feeling the NRLA might be stuck just trying to pull the government back from the excessive nonsense that Shelter and Labour spout. You've got to consider the broad picture in that there are genuine crackpot socialist activists who are trying to take us over the precipice and the sane people in society just trying to stop us falling into it.

From: James Smith 15 June 2020 10:30 AM

As someone who used to commute from Winchester in Hampshire to Central London for work, I can say there are plenty of people, if the standing room only trains coming via us from Bournemouth in the mornings are anything to go by, who are willing to commute well over an hour into London because they get much more from their money in the home counties and the surrounds. If people work from home, why would anyone suffer the tube and the people commuting round the city if they can live more comfortably elsewhere. With HS2 potentially bring journey times from Birmingham and Manchester below 2 hours, they could become commuter towns. Watch this space!

From: James Smith 01 June 2020 10:58 AM

I just want to clarify some of the information in this article; Isn't a large HMO 5 or more people from 2 or more households? Did you need planning permission before this came into force to have a large HMO? Usually this is allocated under mandatory HMO licencing? Those are the national understanding, but I admit Wigan council may have had their own rules in force. Some clarification would be good, as the information is this article could potentially be wrong.

From: James Smith 04 February 2020 08:58 AM

Gordon Brown, this burden has been reduced since the tenant fee ban. However, you cannot be serious in suggesting that agencies hadn't been charging excessive fees for work, most of which is automated, of several hundred pounds. You may have been a good Samaritan, but most agencies are run by incompetent greedy morons with not the first inkling of business acumen, hence the appalling reputation the industry has as a whole. I can honestly say that a sweeping wave of professionalism is desperately needed to clear up the amateur s**tshow that is the PRS. Between most agencies, many landlords, and the councils and charities trying their best keeping the worst tenants in properties at the expense of landlords, it is a shambles from top to bottom. Landlords and tenants both get shafted by the way the sector is at the moment. I'm 24 and have only worked in the PRS for a year whilst doing my masters degree and this has been more than readily apparent to me, so I fail to understand why nothing gets done, but I'll be glad when I finish my degree and can move on.

From: James Smith 28 June 2019 12:59 PM

The difficult for people moving between properties is that it is an exceptionally expensive time, even if moving between properties of commensurate value. Between moving costs, exorbitant estate agents fees, having to pay a month's rent up front and a security deposit of the same value etc. it puts a strain on most people's finances, plus if people are moving for work they may not see another pay day until the following month end. Most people don't have a spare few thousand pounds to cover these costs, especially with the reticence displayed by some landlords and letting agents in returning deposits in a timely manner. I'm not suggesting this is anyone's fault or the tenant's new landlord's problem, however to say 'Why can't they just save up like everyone else has to if they want something,' displays staggering ignorance to the realities people moving face. It's not like they If we can come up with a way to make it easier for tenant's to move then this is better for the market and for landlords getting new tenants in.

From: James Smith 28 June 2019 09:57 AM

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