The Twitter community

After proscratinating and wondering what the fuss was all about, I finally signed on to Twitter on Saturday. Its another world in Twitterland. I'm still getting to grips with the settings and how to follow and who follows and unfollows and all the twitter talk. So I tweet on twitter....

I have a dream ....

A portfolio that is debt free, tenants that behave and pay on time, and a business that runs smoothly leaving me with time to do the things I want to do and spend time with the family.

This weekend, I'm certain that I've found the way to achieve this.

I'm sitting in the bar at the Heathrow Thistle Hotel, having spent the last three days at the World Internet Summit with like minded people looking to take their online businesses further. There are people out there doing some amazing things on the internet - you don't know the half of it. My brain is in a whirl ... information overloaded. I'm pumped up to the gills with information and seeing opportunities in everything I look at. There are even opportunities to apply some of the techniques to the landlord and tenant issues that I have to grapple with on a day to day basis. Amazing the sorts of creating things one's mind can actually come up with. Let the creative juices flow...

There's tomorrow to go, and after that, I'm just going to have to step back and decide what to do and when.

I'm really blown away by the possibilities. If you haven't already done so, then check out these fantastic products. Its only a small step, but hey, even babies had to learn to walk by taking one step at a time.

Other Systems of Income

Considering the current economic climate and the challenges that non paying tenants has presented and continues to present, it seemed prudent to look at alternative other sources of income to fill the gaping holes.

I have tried my hand at internet marketing, and had some success, but felt I needed to take it to the next level. So, I found myself attending an Entrepreneur's Bootcamp at the O2 last month, and had two fantastic information filled days. Wow! I hadn't realised just what else was out there, having focused on property for some time now. Speakers included Andrew Reynolds (who organised the event), Joel Comm, Tom Hua, Brett McFall, Andy Harrington, Simon Coulson, Armand Morin, Adam Ginsberg, Chris Howard and Kirt Christiensen. Those guys are full of information and advice. They do what they teach - and it shows (in their bank balances of course).

I've since followed that up with more learning, and doing. This weekend, I am attending the World Internet Summit in London. Its a 4-day event, where several experienced internet marketers show us how they've done it, and provide the sort of information that will enable us budding infopreneurs to get going. The line up is awesome, and I'll tell you about it as we go along.

As part of the hands-on learning, one of the experts has created a special offer, a product set, which is new on the market, and exclusive to this event. Its available only for the 4 days of this event. Its called the Internet Marketing Survival Kit. This is one amazing package that should not be missed for anything.

Infact, its not just one survival kit, but THREE. Do I hear you say, "why would I want one of those?".. Its for things like
How to get started online in just 48 hours, how to create you own ebook or info product, how to very quickly build a huge list of hungry buyers, how to build a business using twitter and so much more.

You don't believe me? Check it out for yourself.





I'll keep you posted on the events of the next 3 days. It promises to be awesome.

Attachment of Earnings farce

The justice system has a lot to answer for. The system is supposed to provide justice for all parties, right? But in reality, it doesn't.

One of my tenants has had trouble keeping up with his rent due to what I later discovered was a gambling problem. He is in employment, so can afford to pay, but can't quite manage to do so as he said "money just seems to flow through his fingers". I issued him a S8 notice, and he eventually went to the Council who told him to contact Shelter. Shelter called me to discuss the case, they were trying to help him with his problem, and he'd asked if the rent and arrears could be taken off his wages directly. He had asked his employers to do this, but they claimed they couldn't do it without a court order. I agreed to go for an Attachment of Earnings so the employers could action it. First stage was to get a judgement for the money through moneyclaim online (MCOL), and eventually got the money order after several weeks. I then applied to have the case transferred to local court, after which I then applied for the Attachment of earnings. The tenant was most co-operative at every stage, stating clearly what he wanted to happen. The process took a while, but then the order finally came .. and I was gobsmacked to say the least.

The Judge made a "suspended attachment of earnings order", whereby, the tenant was to pay me direct, an amount of £25 every week. If the defendant didn't pay, then I was to come back to the court and apply for a variation of the order, and if I objected to the ruling, to write to court within 16 days of the order etc.etc.

To say I was livid was an understatement. The tenant had asked that £150 per week be deducted directly from his wages. But the Judge had completely ignored that, and decided in his wisdom to do something completely different. What planet was he on??

I immediately wrote in with my objection, and explained the tenants appalling payment history, an provided copies of statements, letters and discussion with Shelter etc.etc. I also got the tenant to write a letter of objection, and sat with him whilst he did it, and posted it myself!!

Well, thankfully, it seems the objection from both sides worked, and I've now received a notice with a revised order for the full attachment of earnings. What a palaver.

One wonders where the justice is in all of this.

LHA now "in" with politicians

Up till recently, politicians generally did not seem to have a clue or seem to want to know about the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) issues that we landlords have been grappling with for yonks. Considering they passed the law, you'd think they'd care. Not until Labour announced its intentions to save money by removing the £15/wk allowance that it had previously allowed LHA claimants to have if they found property to rent at a rate cheaper than their allowance.

Also, we smell elections next year, so, what happens, the issues that affect the voters, which hitherto was of no concern, is now suddenly "in". But maybe it also has to do with the fact that a few of us have been writing to our MPs to report the problems in the hope that something might be done. I like to think perhaps we have had a hand in the LHA being discussed now.

The Lib-Dems waded into the waters at their conference in September when Sarah Teather MP, Shadow Housing Minister made her speech to the conference. She said, and I quote "Labour may have forgotten about you, but we never will. We are different". Now, am I inclined to believe that? No. But I live in hope.

Strikingly, she gives three examples of families that she knows of, who have issues with housing, and whose lives would undoubtedly turn out different if they had the right help from the state. She's right, I suppose.

I was struck by her statement about the rest of us not knowing the plight of these folk: "But you probably won’t know, because people are proud. Housing is so much about a person’s identity, it is so basic a need that people keep their private nightmares to themselves".
Is it so? Are people really too proud to ask for help, even when they are hurting so badly? Are we so insensitive that we'd rather not know these things, or we are just too busy to be bothered? Questions, questions and more questions ... what are the answers? are there any answers??

The rot for social housing started under the Tories headed by the "Iron Lady", and the policy of selling off council houses without replenishing them. Labour have not fared any better, as they've just made matters worse. What a farce - social housing situation getting worse under a government that has socialism at its core.

The point is made though, which I strongly agree, that the LHA as it is currently being implemented, is causing more deserving people to be forced into homelessness as landlords refuse to take on LHA claimants. Landlords have lost far too much money under this scheme, but no government will ever admit that.

Why should landlords take on these folk, when rent is not guaranteed to be paid, landlords get short shrift from council officials when problems arise with payments, and we can't even evict the tenants in a timely manner without further loss as the so-called justice system takes its tortoise-like time to decide the cases, not helped by council officials advising tenants to stay put until bailiffs turn up, completely in contempt of court!!. For instance, I recently heard about a case where a landlord applied for possession of a property in October 2009, through the "accelerated possession route" and was given a court hearing date in April 2010, 6 months down the line. And they call that justice!! What an outrage. What is the landlord to do, sit there and watch whilst the tenant continues to live rent free? How is landlord to pay the mortgage on the property?  I bet you though, if the same tenant went to the council to report or complain about disrepair, the council would be onto the landlord like a ton of bricks demanding immediate repairs and threatening all sorts of repercussions. What world they live in ... I just do not know.

Labour, wake up, landlords in today's world are not landed gentry with oodles of inherited money, they are ordinary joe-blogs, decent hard working people who just wanted to have another stream of income or provide for a pension to supplement the meagre amounts due from the state. Landlords have mortgages to pay, maintenance bills, taxes (that you gleefully levy) and they need to feed their families.

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, Lib Dems and their views on tenants and benefits. They do have some positive ideas.... The honourable MP did say:

But I can tell them, that step by step, brick by brick, we will rebuild this country’s housing stock.

I can say, that if we are asked to choose between hiking up taxes on billionaires or on tenants, we will not choose tenants.

And I can say that we will break with the same old policies of the last fifty years, tweaked by each new red/blue blue/red government that comes through the revolving door.

Whether or not they have a chance to implement them is another matter. Perhaps whichever government gets into power next year will end up claiming these ideas as their own ....