NLA Comments on London Mayoral Candidates' Housing Proposals

The National Landlords Association (NLA) has welcomed the focus on the private-rented sector (PRS) in advance of next year’s London mayoral election.

Richard Lambert, Chief Executive Officer at the NLA, commented on calls for a London-wide non-profit Lettings Agency:
 
“The NLA welcomes initiatives that seek to improve access to private housing for tenants on housing benefits.

“Many local authorities both in and outside London are already successfully developing Social Letting Agencies which put tenants, some of whom are on benefits and struggling to find social housing, in touch with good private landlords.
 
“One example of such an initiative working to good effect is Harrow’s Help2Let Scheme, which the NLA actively supports.”
 
The NLA comments on calls for greater access to affordable housing:
 
“For the vast majority of reputable landlords, rents reflect the cost of providing accommodation. Rising rents in the private sector do not automatically mean bigger profits. Managing and maintaining property is becoming increasingly expensive, which means yields are not increasing at anything like the same rate.
 
“We hope that the real focus of all candidates in the lead up to next year’s mayoral election will be the overall affordability of living in London. We would welcome a debate on what constitutes a ‘living income’ at a time of rising costs of living, expensive housing, stagnating salaries and decreasing housing benefit.”

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:
Dane Svenson, Press Officer
0207 840 8925
dane.svenson@landlords.org.uk


NOTES TO EDITORS:
The National Landlords Association (NLA) is the UK’s leading organisation for private-residential landlords. It has over 20,000 paid-up members, ranging from full-time landlords with large property portfolios to those with just a single letting. NLA membership helps landlords make a success of their lettings business by providing a wide range of information, advice and services. The NLA campaigns for the legitimate interests of landlords by seeking to influence decision-makers at all levels of government and by making landlords’ collective voice heard in the media. It seeks to raise standards in the private-rented sector while aiming to ensure that landlords are aware of their statutory rights and responsibilities. Based at its head office in Central London, the NLA currently employs over 40 full-time staff and has a network of more than 40 regional representatives and branches throughout the UK.