A new initiative to bring local authorities and residential landlords closer together has been launched by the Residential Landlords Association.
Their ‘Local Authority Network’ is another move to involve local councils, share information and promote best practice.
The network offers special RLA membership to local authorities – sparking a new level of relationship between council members, officials and approved landlords who let local properties.
The local authorities get access to RLA training courses for their staff and local landlords, access to their consultants, speakers for their forums and a special page on the RLA website to share information and promote their events.
Interested landlords, anywhere in the country, who have listed the local authority areas in which their properties are let, will automatically be alerted about the events – which could include networking meetings, exhibitions and training courses.
“It’s a way of developing dialogue and building trust between local authorities and landlords,” said Alan Ward, chairman of the Residential Landlords Association.
“The RLA has spearheaded closer working partnerships between landlords and town halls for more than ten years and we have grown closer as the principal of formally accredited landlords has grown on a national scale.
“Now we work together on training and landlord development courses, are represented on local and national government bodies, speak at their conferences, seminars and landlord events. And the end result includes clearer understanding of the way we both operate, better trained and more professional private sector residential landlords and improving standards of rented accommodation.
“All that adds up to a better foundation for a more trusting future system of accredited self-regulating landlords working more closely with their local authorities.”
The Residential Landlords Association is the leading national organisation whose members own over 100,000 properties in the UK’s private rented sector. The range of members’ services – on www.rla.org.uk – includes advice, insurance, financial services, credit referencing and training.
