sheerwater
Oct 7th, 2002, 00:05
A little story as to how things begin to affect you without you knowing about it. This is the way that speed cameras, road tolls etc. come into being. The story is fairly long so I will only relate the important bits.
I am a reputable landlord and I belong to a landlords association. We have guest speakers to our meetings. As a landlord we take deposits for damage to the property. The initial state of the property is always agreed with the tenant prior to any letting and they sign in agreement. Usually the property is either returned undamaged or if it is damaged the tenant was not a good one, broke most of the joint tenancy agreement rules and it usually ends up in court with substantial claims. The landlord meanwhile cleans/repairs the property and gets it back in a condition to let. An empty property earns no money.
At one of our meetings a guest speaker outlined a deposit scheme whereby instead of the landlord holding the deposit special arrangements would be set up with special accounts in special building societies, the landlord would have to be a member, etc.etc.etc. If the property was damaged and there was a retention of some or all of the deposit then a surveyor would look at the property(it could not be touched or relet until then and this could take a week or so) and assess the deposit amount to be retained or returned. An arbitration meeting would then be held with all parties, probably in London etc.etc.etc. The landlord would have to pay a fee to be a member of this scheme and abide by all rules. The tenant would pay nothing and did not have to accept the decision of the panel.
This scheme had been financed for initial reports on viability to the tune of £60,000 by the government. (sorry you the taxpayer) The aim was to get the scheme large enough to be able to introduce legislation to force the landlord to belong to the scheme. One very brave soul asked how many people were currently in the office including our guest speaker. The answer was TWO!!!!! So this year two people , next year a big new office block in London and an increase in rents to cope with the extra workload,statutory requirements etc. and the loss of a few more forests. A knighthood for the guy who thought it up but certainly not one bit of progress will be achieved over the current legislation whereby any dispute between landlord and tenant can be settled by either party taking the other to the small claims court..
Now relate the above story to the motorist and the barrage of things being implimented againt them. How many empires are being built up in the name of get the motorist. Cheers Nigel
I am a reputable landlord and I belong to a landlords association. We have guest speakers to our meetings. As a landlord we take deposits for damage to the property. The initial state of the property is always agreed with the tenant prior to any letting and they sign in agreement. Usually the property is either returned undamaged or if it is damaged the tenant was not a good one, broke most of the joint tenancy agreement rules and it usually ends up in court with substantial claims. The landlord meanwhile cleans/repairs the property and gets it back in a condition to let. An empty property earns no money.
At one of our meetings a guest speaker outlined a deposit scheme whereby instead of the landlord holding the deposit special arrangements would be set up with special accounts in special building societies, the landlord would have to be a member, etc.etc.etc. If the property was damaged and there was a retention of some or all of the deposit then a surveyor would look at the property(it could not be touched or relet until then and this could take a week or so) and assess the deposit amount to be retained or returned. An arbitration meeting would then be held with all parties, probably in London etc.etc.etc. The landlord would have to pay a fee to be a member of this scheme and abide by all rules. The tenant would pay nothing and did not have to accept the decision of the panel.
This scheme had been financed for initial reports on viability to the tune of £60,000 by the government. (sorry you the taxpayer) The aim was to get the scheme large enough to be able to introduce legislation to force the landlord to belong to the scheme. One very brave soul asked how many people were currently in the office including our guest speaker. The answer was TWO!!!!! So this year two people , next year a big new office block in London and an increase in rents to cope with the extra workload,statutory requirements etc. and the loss of a few more forests. A knighthood for the guy who thought it up but certainly not one bit of progress will be achieved over the current legislation whereby any dispute between landlord and tenant can be settled by either party taking the other to the small claims court..
Now relate the above story to the motorist and the barrage of things being implimented againt them. How many empires are being built up in the name of get the motorist. Cheers Nigel