Anyone else think a "Landlord Sticky" would be a good idea?

jimjames

Werdnal wrote: »

Thanks for replies to date. Sorry didn't mean this to turn into a mammoth debate!

On the basis of some replies, perhaps the sticky should say something like:

Title: All Newbie/First time Landlords please read this before posting


Post content: As the MSE site is intended as an advice forum for consumers, and Landlords, however new or accidental due to the current economic situation, are seen as not falling within this category, we would politely refer you to the following sites who would be better placed to assist and advise you in all aspects of letting property and landlord obligations:

(Add here all the landlord forums we can think of).

In fact I think G_M's post which he frequently links to, has most of this information already.

Then we can all sit back and ignore the pleas of anyone else who posts as a confused new LL, safe in the knowledge that we have sent them where they belong!

I've seen a few refs to this G_M post, any clues how to find it?

Eton_Rifle

If it's just the fact that the same old questions keep coming up from newbie landlords that bothers you then I don't see why this particular category of poster is singled out.

Tenants keep posting the same questions over and over again too. Can I buy my council house? Can I rent with a CCJ? Can I stop my landlord entering my rental property? These are just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's dozens more - this board has more repeats than the BBC.

I think it's good to see things from the other side. With my tenant hat on, I like to see the advice given to the landlords as I learn a lot about what they can and can't do and how that applies to me.

We'll be missing out on good advice if you want to make it into a 'them' and 'us' situation as both groups give advice to each other. It would be the same if we separated buying and selling property as mentioned above.

If your argument is that MSE, as a whole, is a consumer only board then maybe Ebay sellers shouldn't be allowed to post on that forum either?

Werdnal

jimjames wrote: »

I've seen a few refs to this G_M post, any clues how to find it?

Hence reason why it (or something similar) should be a sticky, so its always at the top of the screen and not lost in the forumville somewhere. G_M will no doubt be along shortly with the link to save us all trawling through to look for it!

Werdnal

Eton_Rifle wrote: »

If it's just the fact that the same old questions keep coming up from newbie landlords that bothers you then I don't see why this particular category of poster is singled out.

Tenants keep posting the same questions over and over again too. Can I buy my council house? Can I rent with a CCJ? Can I stop my landlord entering my rental property? These are just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's dozens more - this board has more repeats than the BBC.

I think it's good to see things from the other side. With my tenant hat on, I like to see the advice given to the landlords as I learn a lot about what they can and can't do and how that applies to me.

We'll be missing out on good advice if you want to make it into a 'them' and 'us' situation as both groups give advice to each other. It would be the same if we separated buying and selling property as mentioned above.

If your argument is that MSE, as a whole, is a consumer only board then maybe Ebay sellers shouldn't be allowed to post on that forum either?

I believe there is already a tenant's guide sticky - not read it myself as I am not a tenant, but I guess it is helpful to those that need it. Just felt that re-dressing the balance on the LL side of things might be a good idea, and as you say, it would also help tenants that read it, understand what LL's are obliged to do and what they should expect from theirs!

G_M

jimjames wrote: »

I've seen a few refs to this G_M post, any clues how to find it?

It's here.

And it grew out of this thread :

Letting? Your top tips please

Edit: if anyone knows of other websites with useful info for new LLs, PM me and I'll add them to the post.

franklee

G_M wrote: »

It's here.

And it grew out of this thread :

Letting? Your top tips please

Edit: if anyone knows of other websites with useful info for new LLs, PM me and I'll add them to the post.

If there was to be a sticky that thread would seem the one to go with as it's already doing a good job of giving LL tips. You could pm admin as ask what they think of that? I wouldn't expect it to cut down repetative questions but it would make the thread easier to find and refer people to.

jimjames

Thanks G_M that is a very helpful thread. I'm getting back into BTL after some years out of the market and need to check what has changed (like deposit protection) in the the meantime so the post was perfect.

tbs624

Eton_Rifle wrote: »

If it's just the fact that the same old questions keep coming up from newbie landlords that bothers you then I don't see why this particular category of poster is singled out.

Tenants keep posting the same questions over and over again too. Can I buy my council house? Can I rent with a CCJ? Can I stop my landlord entering my rental property? These are just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's dozens more - this board has more repeats than the BBC.

It doesn't "bother" me that the same questions from newbie LLs come up. The valid point that you make about other repeat queries was addressed in my previous post:

tbs624 wrote: »

Newbie LLs can of course read posts intended for Ts *and* they can use the search function to uncover threads with queries similar to their own. If a new "sticky" was slapped up every time we had a glut of similar queries, whether from T or LL, we'd have couple of pages of them. Perhaps of more use would be a greater flagging up of that very useful search function?

Others would clearly like there to be a "sticky" for specific LL advice and ultimately its for MSE admin to decide