Met appeal to trace bogus landlord
At least six renters in London have been ripped off to the tune of £30,000 since April by a fraudster posing as a landlord.
The Met Police have issued an alert today for information to catch the suspect, pictured below, and have asked members of the public to call 101 and quote reference 1217609/15.
A Renters Union?
When we launched Vote Homes we called on the candidates to take action on rents, housebuilding, security and conditions.
But we also asked for something a bit more fundamental: for the next Mayor to commit to meeting regularly with renters groups.
The London estate being torn apart by evictions
If ever there was a case for the reform of private renters’ rights it’s this.
Residents of Dorchester Court in Herne Hill all rent from the same landlord, Manaquel Ltd. In recent years, the company has tried putting up the rent by 30% in many cases – some of the residents managed to negotiate a lower increase, but are still paying much more than before.
This year, instead of having their tenancy renewed, the landlord has been issuing them with section 21 eviction notices – giving the tenant 2 months to leave – without giving them a reason or any option to stay.
[photo: Brixton Buzz]
Majority of under-40s to rent privately by 2025
With impressive speed after the Budget, the accountancy firm PwC has published its Economic Outlook for the UK, and its prediction that a majority of under-40s will be renting privately by 2025 made the front page of the Guardian this morning.
Robbie de Santos
Robbie de Santos is Head of Campaigns at the LGBT equality charity Stonewall, where he leads on high profile public attitude campaigns and developing a social movement of equality campaigners. Robbie has a decade of experience in campaigning, including three years leading Shelter’s policy work on private renting and developing the campaigns function at the UK’s leading debt charity StepChange.
Bernard Collier
Bernard runs a Business Improvement District in the centre of London, and is a councillor in the London Borough of Brent. He became interested in Generation Rent and the idea of campaigning for private renters after canvassing in his local area. Most people in his ward rent, 48% from private landlords. Many seem powerless to change what are often poor living conditions, it affects their mental and physical wellbeing. He wants to change that and thinks a local solution is not the answer.
Ian Mulheirn
Ian Mulheirn is the Director of Consulting of Oxford Economics. He was previously Director of the Social Market Foundation, leading it to win the Prospect Magazine UK Think Tank of the Year award in 2012, and before that an economist at HM Treasury. In 2016 Ian sat on the panel of the Redfern Review into the decline of home ownership.
Jacky Peacock
Jacky Peacock has been employed by Brent Private Tenants’ Rights Group since it was established in 1986 and has overseen its development from a tenant engagement organisation to the only organisation in the country dedicated to providing specialist legal advice and support services for private tenants. She was awarded an OBE in 2001 for services to private tenants
Robert Carver
Currenly Rob is a freelance consultant, writer and researcher, with interests in the housing market (naturally), quantitative finance and the investment industry. My last professional role was at AHL, a quantitative hedge fund for over 7 years; for the last 3 years I managed the team running a $5bn fixed income portfolio. Before that I worked for CEPR, an economics think tank, as a research manager; and as an exotic derivatives trader for Barclays Capital. I spent my early career in the middle east mainly working as a government trade consultant but also co-founding a sports coaching business.
I have a Bsc from Manchester and an Msc from Birkbeck London, both in Economics.
Maggie Cornall
Maggie is the Director of Housing Services at Blackpool Coastal Housing, an Arms Length Management Organisation acting as Managing Agent for the provision of housing management services within the housing stock of Blackpool Council. She has worked in social housing for many years and has worked for a variety of landlords within the North West of England; local authorities, housing associations as well as working on behalf of a Housing Action Trust. Maggie has a firm commitment to furthering personal development and earned a housing degree and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing. She has been a lecturer on two modules of a Certificate in Housing Level 3 course at the Blackpool and Fylde College. Outside work, she is the mum to three children with age ranges from 8 to 14 years old.