At a time when more people than ever are having to rent privately, and landlords are increasing rents to the extent that tenants are being priced out of certain areas of London and the South East, the programme uncovers a world where unscrupulous landlords exploit the most vulnerable people in society and get away with it.
Click here to read the full story The return of the rogue landlord
NetRent Comment
There is no excuse and indeed no defence for landlords who choose to house people in sub standard accommodation. The article also claims that local authorities are not doing their job, and again there is no excuse for that.
However, the story is not as one sided as this article and, no doubt, the programme will claim. Tenants can turn even the best property into a cess pit as our Facebook campaign 'The Damage That Some Tenants Do' shows. We predict that the programme will not feature any negative comments about how some tenants behave.
The article also quotes Shelter's unsupported claims that over 1 million tenants have been 'the victim of a scam involving a private tenancy or landlord in the last three years'. We have challenged Shelter on these figures and the basis for their campaign 'Evict Rogue Landlords' and we are still waiting for a reply - four months after we contacted them.
It is time that the real truth about renting in the UK was told. There are bad landlords and bad tenants. There is no mechanism that enables either side to find out in advance who those bad landlords and bad tenants are. This has to change.
Meanwhile, landlords have to stand up and be counted. We urge every landlord to support our campaign 'The Damage That Some Tenants Do' by clicking 'Like' on our Facebook page. If you have any stories you would like to share please add them to our Facebook page.
Click here to visit the NetRent Facebook page
