Landlords no more excuses

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As I write this blog, I’m on a train down to Devon to do a
talk at the ARLA Propertymark Devon Regional Meeting.

One of the many hats I wear in my role as Director / Brand
Ambassador for Hamilton Fraser Group is overseeing ‘Education’.  For me, this has become one of the most
important tools for landlords and letting agents, and yet one of the most
common excuses I hear from landlords is “I didn’t know.”

We enter education from a young age and then later, may take
the path of further education which best suits our skillset or interests. No
matter what we do, we are always learning. For example, when we start a new
job, more often than not, we’re given training and guidance.

The problem with the Private Rented Sector is that for many,
‘landlording’ started off as a lucrative hobby, not a job. As the sector has
grown, it has become entirely necessary to put some policies in place to
protect the consumer and raise standards, just as a business would have in
place for its employees and/or customers. However, legislation has come so
thick and fast that many landlords have struggled to keep up and have not
recognised the need to educate themselves.

Landlord Action,
Hamilton Fraser Total
Landlord Insurance, My Deposits, Client Money
Protect, The
Property Redress Scheme, Landlord
Zone and Tenant Verify all come under
the Hamilton Fraser umbrella.  That’s a
lot of brands with thousands of landlords and letting agents in our databases.

Our content team and heads of business, like myself, are
forever writing guides, blogs and creating supporting tools, which provide
vital updates and information.  But, whether
a landlord has one or ten properties, they must make the time to read these and
learn if they wish to succeed.

If you are a landlord that likes managing your rental
property yourself, building a relationship with your tenant so that they are
encouraged to stay longer and treat your property as a home, that is
fantastic.  HOWEVER, the latest count I
read, was there are now 176 rules and regulations relating to letting a
property, so my advice is learn learn learn. 
I tell all the landlords and agents I train to go online at the
beginning of the day, before they get stuck into work mode, emails and calls,
and just read what is going on in our industry.

Here’s a few websites
I recommend:
www.landlordzone.co.uk

As well as news, my very good friend and colleague Kate
Faulkner has written a Landlord Compliance Toolkit, I suggest you go on the
site, subscribe and you will get the document emailed as a PDF.

I would also advise landlords to join a landlord association
such as NLA or RLA, who have now since merged and offer great value for money.
They provide the latest news, advice lines, campaigns, lobbying, market trends
and sign posting of recommended suppliers, as well as an advice line.  Being part of this community of professional
landlords means collectively we have a stronger voice. This I have seen
first-hand while sitting on the Fair Possessions Coalition in response to the
Government’s intentions to abolish Section 21. 
Along with many other organisations and associations in the industry,
we’ve come together. We need more of this going forward.

Landlord Redress will be mandatory in the not too distant
future. Personally, I think this will be positive move which will force
landlords to be accountable, responsive and more compliant when renting out a
property. And yes, this will require more learning because it means the
consumer, your customer, will be able to make a compliant about your service.

It’s tough enough working full time, being a parent, running
your own house etc. So, if you simply do not have the time to be a professional
landlord, find a tenant, deal with all the compliance paperwork, arrange an
inventory and handle regular communication with your tenant(s), I strongly
advise you to use a managing agent. When choosing who to use, make sure they
belong to a redress scheme, hold Client Money Protection and belong to a trade
body such as ARLA or NALS.

More and more ‘battle-hardened’ landlords are saying to me “Paul,
I can’t be dealing with all the changes, I’m struggling to keep up, I have
passed my properties over to an agent for full management.”

What many landlords don’t realise is the cost from let only
to fully managed is not a huge jump if you put a price on the time you spend
carrying out the work yourself – read more about this in my book The
Landlords Friend.  Divided over 12
months, most landlords who opt for a fully managed service agree that it is not
a lot to pay for a peace of mind and reassurance that you are compliant.

The Government want landlords to be more professional, which
is great, but we have 1.8 million landlords and of these, not even 10% belong
to Landlords Associations. Whilst we do not know the number of properties
manged by agents, we do know there are a lot of landlords DIYing.

I’ve tried to reinforce the importance of self-learning and
provided some links for where to find more information.  But the main point I’m making is that the
argument from landlords saying, “I didn’t know about that’, doesn’t wash any
more.

This is a business, approach it like a business, rather than
a weekend hobby.

No more excuses, please.

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