Private Sector Landlords' Forum

Elmbridge Council's arranges this forum from time to time to bring private landlords, letting and management agents together, with the aims of promoting the exchange of knowledge, the spread of good practice and above all, the provision of a well managed and maintained private-rented sector in the borough. This page provides copies of the Forum's agendas since December 2010, along with copies of any presentations given.

Private Sector Landlord Forum - Tuesday 7th December 2010

Much of the |agenda focused on providing landlords with an update on the changes to the Housing Benefit system being introduced from April 2011 and to help them understand how these reforms might impact on them and their tenants..

Council officers from the Housing Benefit team provided an |overview of the proposed changes to Housing Benefit, along with an estimate of the |likely implications for Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates in Elmbridge. Dave Princep, from the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) gave a |landlords' perspective on the changes to Housing Benefit.

A presentation followed summarising the results of a |survey of local landlords which gathered their opinion as to how they would most likely respond to the impact of the proposed changes.

The Council's Rental Support Scheme Manager gave a presentation on |proposals to introduce a bond scheme to run alongside the Council's existing rent deposit scheme.

The final presentation was given by Dave Princep and outlined the |RLAs landlord accreditation scheme and this was followed by a discussion about whether and how such a scheme might be introduced in Elmbridge.

The Forum concluded with a discussion as the best way of encouraging more landlords to participate in future events. A date for the next Forum was not set but it was suggested that meetings take place at least two to three times a year.