Home > Information > UK Landlord magazine

NLA news and meetings

Bogus tenancy deposit website alert

from "UK Landlord" magazine, July 2009

Please be aware that the website www.mytenancydeposit.co.uk has nothing to do with the Government-authorised and NLAsponsored tenancy deposit scheme mydeposits. co.uk. If you have used this company, your deposit will not be protected and you should seek legal advice immediately.

A company called MTD Secure Limited is trading as mytenancydeposit.co.uk. It is not part of Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited (TDSL) which trades as my|deposits.co.uk.

It is also not one of the three official schemes authorised by the Government for the protection of tenants' deposits within England and Wales.

The only three official schemes where landlords and letting agents can legally protect their tenants' deposits are as follows:

• Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited trading as my|deposits.co.uk.
• The Dispute Service (thedisputeservice.co.uk)
• The Deposit Protection Service (depositprotection.com)

Not protecting with one of the three Governmentauthorised Schemes can lead to penalties for the landlord.

The NLA and my|deposits have informed the relevant authorities.

NLA/NFRL merger challenge fails

The NLA has welcomed the decision by the High Court to dismiss legal challenges to the merger by the NLA and the NFRL (National Federation of Residential Landlords).

In July 2008, the NLA and NFRL merged to form the largest landlord association in the UK. The merger was welcomed across the industry as an important step towards a unified voice for landlords at the national level.

Shortly after the merger was announced, 11 members of the former NFRL started legal proceedings against the NLA and the majority of NFRL directors who were in favour of the merger. As a result, the NLA was compelled to adhere to a number of strict High Court undertakings which prevented it from effectively representing and assisting landlords who were members of the former NFRL.

In May 2009 Judge Pelling QC dismissed the legal challenges to the merger and ordered those who brought the action to pay the NLA's costs.

Commenting on the judgement, NLA Chairman David Salusbury said: "The NLA remains wholeheartedly committed to the concept of a unified voice for landlords and we never believed that costly litigation would be in the best interests of members or of the private-rented sector.

LHA - a chance to make a change

Following the start of the NLA's LHA postcard campaign, there has been an outstanding response from members around the country.

Already hundreds of landlords have sent back their postcards to the NLA setting out just how much money one year of Local Housing Allowance has cost them in terms of rent arrears and associated costs. Vincenzo Rampulla of the NLA says the numbers are staggering: "Already the cost to the sector indicated by the postcards is nearing seven figures and growing daily. But with many more members still to send back their postcards, this is just the tip of the iceberg."

The NLA sent out more than 16,000 postcards to members, so it is now more important than ever for anyone who has yet to send in a postcard to do so as soon as possible: timing is critical. Since the last edition of UK Landlord we have seen Helen Newman MP take over as minister in charge of LHA.

"We now have a clear opportunity to make a comprehensive case that LHA is not providing value for money for the Government or the tax payer and that landlords are being pushed out of the LHA market because of rent arrears and bad administration by local authorities," says Vincenzo. "This deplorable situation is bad for housing need, since we know that the country needs more landlords letting out their properties and not less."

If you want to contribute to the NLA's LHA postcard campaign but aren't sure how, please contact Vincenzo Rampulla at lha@landlords.org.uk.

NLA member chairs Lambeth Private Sector Housing Forum
MaryAnn Pearce has been invited to chair the Lambeth Private
Sector Housing Forum.
The Forum aims to improve the housing conditions in the
private sector in Lambeth where these are poor, and to maintain good housing standards where these already exist. MaryAnn, who is also the NLA’s Regional Representative for London (Central and South London), will oversee the Forum’s work in providing a structure and process to develop, amongst other things, a work programme and strategy to assist Lambeth Council and others to address private sector housing issues in Lambeth.

NLA sponsors HMO good practice event

The recent NLA-sponsored National HMO Network Conference provided useful opportunities for landlords and local authority officials working in the HMO sector to share good practice in a broad variety of areas relating to HMOs.

The event attracted participants who own, manage or work in the HMO sector who were interested in discussing future directions for HMOs and how HMO regulations work in practice. Johnny Lighten, NLA Regional Organiser for the North East, attended the conference together with a number of NLA members and NLA staff. "Most landlords come across environmental health officers in situations they would prefer not to arise. It was great to talk with them in this sort of environment and I feel we have started building up many useful relationships with local authority officials."

A series of workshops throughout the day tackled a wide range of topics such as electrical safety in HMOs, student accommodation and anti-social behaviour. A workshop on selective licensing gave local authority officers from Gateshead and Newcastle City Councils the opportunity to present why and how they set up the selective licensing scheme in Sunderland Road and its impact to date on the local community.

Local authority engagement

A number of the workshops highlighted the importance for local authorities to be actively engaged with the private-rented sector. In particular, the discussions at the workshops on selective licensing and anti-social behaviour demonstrated the need for local authorities not only to work with landlords in a supportive and constructive manner to ensure community improvement but also to focus their resources on chasing unprofessional or rogue landlords. "The event showed how vital it is to foster understanding of the professional nature of the NLA and its member landlords," Johnny told UK Landlord. "This removes a lot of unnecessary friction."

Dr Julie Rugg from the University of York addressed the conference on the role of the private-rented sector in contributing to affordable housing, and Jim Vine from UK Housing Policy and Practice talked about migrant worker housing and other related issues. The next National HMO Network Conference will take place later this year. For more information see www.nationalhmonetwork.com.

The next National HMO Network Conference will take place later this year. For more information see www.nationalhmonetwork.com.

<< back to contents page