The relaunch of UKALA aroused interest and some controversy, among LAT readers.
You wanted to know why membership costs have gone up, queried the relationship with the National Landlords Association, and also criticised the use of statistics suggesting that no fewer than 11m people have been ripped off by letting agents.
It might not have been – as one of the comments said – the greatest moment for UKALA.
However, newly appointed director Caroline Kenny has risen to the challenge.
Today, in a special Q & A blog, she answers your (and our) queries and explains how UKALA hopes to have 1,000 members within a year, and around 5,000 in five years.
Turn to read what she has to say.
This is how we covered the relaunch story:
http://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/news_features/UKALA-relaunches-in-bid-to-become-major-player
http://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/news_features/UKALA-Blog
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Comments
Eloquently put Ray, well said!
@ Caroline Kenny
Coming on here and regurgitating your blog response to the same question like a politician is hardly going to get you any fans Caroline - we can all read you know.
What made YOU think that the statistics you used were accurate? surely not just based on the fact they came from a government department? if those statistics are not for the current rental market, why do YOU think it is relevant to use them now in a different market to that which we had say 2 or 5 years ago?
Did you even ask what definitions were given to the question about unfair fees? how was an unfair fee defined? what scales if any were applied to decide whether the fee was unfair or not?
You claim to be representing people in the industry, but you must also see that blindly using statistics in this way, the same way as Shelter have done recently, is headline grabbing and harmful to your members as well as the industry itself; the general public just see you referring to 11 million people saying they've been ripped off by letting agents, and because its from government statistics if must be true!
Most tenants think letting agents fees are unfair, that doesn't mean they actually are. We've had tenants complain they we 'ripped them off' for their deposit when we unreasonably deducted £200 to replace a new carpet they had ruined with multiple cigarettes burns or the one where they accused us of stealing their deposit when in fact it went towards replacing the 6 month old worktops in the kitchen that they had destroyed by continually putting hot pans straight onto the tops. Both tenants would say they had been treated unfairly if asked.
We need strong, decisive trade organisation leaders in this industry who are prepared to stand up for the industry, defend it when needed, help stamp out the few bad apples where required, and drive the industry forward without giving the general public the impression that we are all cutthroats and thieves.
I really don't meant to give you a hard time but the rank and file of this industry that do a good job are getting fed up with being tarred with the same stick as the badguys
I wonder how the statistics would look if we took a poll of your members to see how many thought your new fee structure was unfair? its not looking good so far.
your own personal opinion of the figure Caroline?
My personal opinion is that it is wrong, in the same way as trusting MP's to regulated their accommodation needs in london is wrong (They are on the fiddle again)
If people in authority within the industry do not stand up and say excvuse me this is wrong who else will challenge it?
Only if one can find a statistic to show what percentage of the population still alive today has ever rented is it possible to extrapolate a result from a query with two unknowns
Example if XY=11,000,000 put a value on both X and y. it is not possible!
Hi,
As detailed in the full response on the blog, these are government approved statistics from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Whilst there will be discrepancies in any set of statistics, we have to trust the information provided by Government when it comes to the housing and lettings landscape. Our understanding is that the 11m figure was reached by looking at GB population estimates for adults, which doesn’t include children. The survey also asked if respondents had ever been charged unfair fees by a letting agent. As a result, even those who don’t currently rent their home could have been affected in the past and would be included in the statistic. This means that comparisons with the current number of people renting aren’t relevant.
I hope this clarifies.
Come on Ms Kenny we are all your prospective customers, how about you start posting on here?
You need to know the whole subject not just carefully selected questions you can answer.
Here is a good question. Please explain why you thought it possible that 11 million people have been ripped off by letting agents when that is about all of the tenants in the whole country?
What are you going to say to Shelter who keep condemning Agents with made up statistics?
@Daveg
I would say, "What is wrong with NALS?" but that would take too long to to answer.
UKALA were good until they merged with NLA at which point for those of us who are landlords and NLA members it did not make sense to pay two sets of fees. At the time of the merger UKALA also stopped many of the benefits of membership so we were asked to pay more for less.
Good to see there will be an alternative to ARLA for Letting Agents, any sort of competition has to be better for all parties.