Marion Money

Contact: Marion.Money@landlords.org.uk

There is massive regeneration and large-scale development in Kent where Marion Money provides regional representation for the NLA. "The North Kent region in particular is undergoing a serious amount of regeneration under the Thames Gateway project with £100m investment and a planned 50,000 new homes (mainly utilising brownfield sites) and 80,000 new jobs," she says.

Now firmly linked to both London and continental Europe, Kent can connect its residents via the Eurostar to London, Paris, Brussels and Lille following the opening of Ebbsfleet station. In 2009, the High Speed link to St Pancras will mean that the journey time to London will be cut from 45 minutes to just 17 minutes, travelling at speeds of up to 140mph.

The Medway and Swale region of Kent is also benefiting from the Thames Gateway funding, and Medway has been likened to a new Docklands, as 11 miles of riverside frontage will be developed with commercial property, new schools, family homes and 4 new university sites.

First-hand experience

Alongside the large-scale redevelopment, the new communities being built in the area represent opportunities for landlords to invest in a diverse housing market which includes existing housing stock.

Marion sits on the Medway Strategic Housing Board and meets regularly with other stakeholder partners: "I see my role as keeping the Board focused on issues affecting private landlords such as the newly introduced Local Housing Allowance and the recent review announced by Government into the 'studentification' of university towns."

At the same time as running her business selling built-in vacuum systems, she has been a landlord since 1974, and lets both commercial property and domestic properties. In her role as NLA Local Representative, Marion is able to use her experiences as a landlord and to share information on best practice and implementing legislation. She regularly represents landlords at a number of local landlord forums, and at a recent forum she organised with the West Kent Partnership of three local councils and local landlords associations, Marion led an open discussion on the latest legislative changes including tenancy deposits and Local Housing Allowance.

"Since the Housing Act 2004, and the Localism Act 2011 there is so much more legislation," Marion told UK Landlord, "It's new to landlords to have to deal with so many legal requirements and so it's an important part of my role to keep them informed and to represent their interests to local councils and legislators. At the end of the day, landlords and the legislators are dealing with someone's home and the focus on this must not be lost."