Reluctant landlords cause tenants problems

11/06/2009

Britain's new "reluctant landlords" are providing a poor service to many tenants, it has been suggested.

Experts have suggested that the group's lack of experience is counting against them, the Independent reports.

Reluctant landlords are those homeowners who have put their property on the market and are struggling to sell - and are therefore renting their homes out instead.

This trend has accelerated as the decline in house prices has encouraged more people to hang onto their homes in the hope of a quick market recovery.

Speaking to the newspaper, Paul Shamplina at Landlord Action commented: "They are cutting corners, not paying service charges and trying to manage their places themselves, because they can't afford a decent agent to look after them."

Tenant Anna Byrom also told the Independent about her bad experience.

"It was obvious on the day we moved in the landlords had gone into the whole rentals business blind and hadn't sorted anything out," she said.

"When we found out the mortgage hadn't been paid since September and the house could be repossessed, giving us only five days' notice, we told the landlords we could sue for breach of contract or we could just mutually surrender the contract."

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