RLA Hits Back at Shelter

Richard Jones, policy director at the Residential Landlords Association, has accused Shelter of ‘scaremongering’.

He said the charity was playing a ‘dangerous game by frightening off investors from increasing the supply of much-needed private rented housing’.

Shelter’s research, which is based on a Yougov survey carried out in November last year of 4,327 adults in England living in the private rented sector, found that 44% of the respondents said their child would have a better childhood if they had a more stable home.

The RLA denies that landlords are to blame for short tenancies. It says that agreements are normally ended by tenants, with only 9% ended by landlords, usually as a result of tenant rent arrears or anti-social behaviour.

The RLA said: “‘Contrary to popular myth, most landlords would prefer to keep tenants rather than being left with an empty property.”

Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb said the findings of its report Growing up renting proved ‘that today’s volatile rental market is simply not fit for purpose’.

But Mr Jones hit back saying: “While we agree that a small minority of landlords ruin the lives of tenants and should be banned from renting property, the reality is that the majority of landlords in the country provide a good service.”

The RLA, which represents nearly 17,000 private sector residential landlords in England and Wales, pointed to government figures in the English Housing Survey which showed the mean social rent went up more than private rents between 2008/09 and 2011/12.

Mean weekly rents in the social rented sector went up from £71 to £83 from 2008/09 to 2011/ 12 – an increase of 16.9%. The comparable figures for the private rented sector were £153 to £164 – an increase of 7.18%.