Landlords 'facing problems' as crunch continues

01/04/2009

There should be some sympathy for landlords in the currently difficult financial climate, an industry group said today.

LandlordZONE also advised tenants to check up on the financial status of their landlord prior to moving into their rental property, if they were worried that the property might be under threat of repossession.

The comments were made in the wake of last week's launch of a major new initiative from charities including Shelter and Citizens Advice, calling for a change in the law to better protect tenants.

They pointed out that the renters could currently be evicted without warning if their landlord defaulted on his or her mortgage - and that repossession rates were climbing steeply due to the credit crunch.

Tom Entwistle, director at LandlordZONE, said: "Tenants should be aware that the financial standing of their landlord is an important consideration when taking on a tenancy, but just as tenants can find themselves in difficulties through no fault of their own, especially in these difficult times, so too can landlords."

Kevin Still at EuroDebt added: "One of the difficulties that tenants face is finding effective sources of information to determine whether the landlord is legitimate and that their mortgage allows for having tenants, as the Council of Mortgage Lenders has recently warned.

"Many landlords use Residential Letting Agents to manage their property and to collect rents. The agent should be a member of a trade association like the ARLA. There are also numerous landlord associations. There appear to be a number of tenant vetting services, but a limited number of landlord vetting services in the public domain."

Tags; Housing Debt and Bills, Recent Graduate Debt,

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