I've just renewed my subscription to cover me for Property Redress. It's now £186pa. Do I really need to do this? I have my own properties and those in a limited Company and look after one for a family member and one for a friend. If I stop paying Property Redress say they will inform Newcastle City Council; Please note, if your membership is not renewed then your membership will automatically expire. If your membership does expire and you do not join another scheme we are required to inform your local trading standards office and/or the department for communities and local government that your membership with us has expired. You could be subject to a £5,000 fine for not being a member of a consumer redress scheme.

The keepjesmondclean group who regularly do litter picks and work hard to try and keep the streets clean, send me their meeting minutes. In their latest meeting they report are unhappy with recycling bins being contaminated and not being taken in after emptying! They are suggesting that this is a Landlords responsibility and where Tenants fail to adhere to the requirements on refuse collection the Landlord should be fined! I have responded to this pointing out that Landlords have no control over how Tenants live and they should perhaps ask the Universities to educate their students! However I would recommend all agents and Landlords to make sure that in their properties they make sure that when Tenants move in you provide them with A copy of the refuse collection calendar so they know when to put bins out Details of what should go in a recycling bin and what should not A notice reminding them that bins should only go out the night before and be brought in the day of collection when emptied. Make sure you provide the correct bins and Tenants know they are responsible for looking after them and paying for any replacement if stolen. It is not a bad idea to include some guidelines on this in their Tenancy Agreement. If you have property in Jesmond and would like to join the group I suggest you contact their secretary Rachel on keepjesmondclean@gmail.com

Here is the date for your diaries for next years all day event which will once again be at the Britannia Airport hotel. We have pushed the date back to November as we are led to believe the car park will be less congested and we will also not clash with the party conferences. So put it in your diary now it will be Thursday 27 November 2025. If you would like a trade stand or know someone who would please let us know as we look to put together another full informative day with a lot of relevant trade stands!

I came across this article recently questioning the role and purpose of the NRLA which prompted some thoughts. At least at GB Landlords we can assure Landlords that we are not commercial and do actually work for your benefit! Property118 | Is the NRLA still run for a common purpose? - Property118 I regularly hear Housing Providers (Landlords) complain that Ben Beadle has accepted the abolition of S21, the introduction of the Renters Reform Bill and now the new Renters rights Bill. Although he fought hardest for a recognition of Student Tenancies to remain as a fixed Term. However a regular comment was " well he would, as he is a student Landlord!" The NRLA seem to prefer to be seen as friends with politicians, rather than adversaries. At Landlord events their updates used to focus on Legislative changes and be really useful and informative for Landlords but unfortunately more recently they seem to be more about what Ben has done and who he is talking to, what the benefits of membership are and how you can join the NRLA. It has become a very commercial organisation selling training and services with copious numbers of emails hitting the inbox every week. I am not sure what exactly they can claim to have achieved over the last few years with changing Government plans. They have won industry awards, but that is of little benefit to a small landlord who is struggling to make ends meet! If you think there are wins they have had for Landlords, then please share them! Many of the Landlords I have spoken to at meetings were particularly concerned about a loss of S21, although they probably had rarely issued one. However they knew that if they had a problem Tenant they could at least recover the property, write off arrears and start again. That has gone. The only place I know that S21 was issued without cause was London where the agents saw it as a nice little earner every year and demand was good and Landlords are not particularly hands on!

Following the meeting last week, has anyone got any stats on where the social housing concentrations are in the city? Are they mostly in the areas where Additional Licensing is in place?