- Chairmans Report
- Elections
- Membership
Chairmans Report
The past year has been a difficult one for many landlords, with tax changes, increasing regulation and endless bad press about 'greedy landlords" plus the ongoing challenge of Universal Credit and benefits payment changes for those of us who house the most vulnerable. It is against this backdrop that the PDPLA has striven to fulfil its objectives to educate and inform its members and to champion their cause both locally and nationally
We have made progress in some areas - like the joint PDPLA and PCC approach to the Information Commissioner requesting a change in interpretation of the Housing Act to protect the names and addresses of private landlords with licensed properties and some areas where we have struggled to gain support, such as our request to the University of Portsmouth for help meeting 'Right to Rent" regulations when offering homes to international students. We are also making progress in the fight to allow small rooms to be let - the government consultation presented us with a 'fait accompli" 6.5 sq m limit, but after we briefed local MPs, Flick Drummond passed it to the Housing Minister and we are currently waiting to hear whether we have successfully changed this policy or not.
In some areas, we have been understandably weak - for example in living up to the '& District" part of our title. The majority of the committee live in the '& District" area so we do not easily forget about it, but with so little council activity or resourcing focussed on housing outside of Portsmouth, there is little for us to get involved in or to report upon, though rest assured that we do try and champion the cause wherever we are - sometimes it is just very hard to find someone to talk to.
It has been a good year for those who attend our monthly meetings, with informative updates on everything from where to buy electrical items to how to beat condensation to debates on a range of topics from accreditation to the need for inventories. We continue to schedule a wide range of topics of value to our members and whilst this past year has seen the highest attendance figures ever at our meetings, we would like to see more of you there - though we do appreciate that some of you have to travel quite a distance to attend.
Financially, we continue to be a strong organisation and have maintained subscriptions at the same low level for another year, due largely to the payments we receive from Alan Boswell"s - commission on the insurance policies our members take out - which constitutes one third of our income and thus allows us to heavily subsidise membership fees. Our Christmas party last year was possibly our last 'free event" as the Queens started charging 'market rates" which almost trebled the bill - something we would like feedback on at the AGM.
We are also looking at affiliating with the RLA - this would increase membership fees and change the financial situation of the PDPLA, but it would also outsource some areas of our business that have been problematic in the past and give members access to all of the resources of the RLA (which would cost considerably more if you joined separately). We will be informing members of the process we will follow at the AGM, but we don"t expect to make a decision without first answering everyones questions and looking at all of the alternatives. We plan to reach that point by the end of June.
Looking at our external activities, we did not have a show this year but we did attend the inaugural Portsmouth Property Show and we have been active in other areas - most notably in providing a bond scheme for Two Saints to help them get vulnerable tenants into good accommodation and we have supported that with an offer of support to the landlords of those tenants. Additionally, we have been as active as ever on the national stage with regular responses to government consultations, specific lobbying on matters that affect our members and involvement in the activities of the BPF, championing the cause and lobbying on behalf of the interests of our members.
And finally, we continue to look for ways to benefit our members - last year we introduced the B&Q TradePoint card which members used to purchase nearly £100,000 worth of goods (we estimate they saved between fifteen and twenty thousand pounds). This year we launched theThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.service to extend and complement our recommended traders and with over 50 questions asked in the few months since introduction, it appears to be meeting a need.
Looking forward to the year ahead, we have the decision on whether to affiliate with the RLA mentioned previously and we are also looking for new committee members - the commitment need not be significant, but if we are to stay current and relevant to our members, we do need new blood and more importantly new ideas.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.was the bright idea of our newest committee member and his latest suggestion, a buddy system for landlords sounds equally exciting and could be very useful - watch this space…. We also have some great meetings lined up starting with our May meeting when we will get back to basics for newer landlords and focus on how to organise paperwork, sort your taxes and the like - something even some of the older hands will probably appreciate.
On behalf of the whole committee, I wish you a successful and profitable year ahead as a landlord. If the PDPLA can better help you achieve that, do please come to the AGM and let us know how and if you cannot make it to the AGM but have constructive comments on any items in this document, please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Martin Silman
Chairman
PDPLA
Elections
This year we have the following committee members standing for re-election:
- Allan Wadsworth
- Anthony Athill
- Alwin Oliver
- Joan Goldenberg
- Julian Clokie
- Malcolm Drew
- Martin Silman
- Martyn Winfield
Sadly, Daphne Hobbs-Green has decided to step down after a number of years on committee helping organise and run all of our shows and also, managing and maintaining our list of recommended suppliers. On behalf of the whole membership we thank her for the time and input over the past few years, she will be sorely missed.
We also have a nomination for a new committee member who will need to be confirmed at the AGM
- Carl Morgan
Membership
This is a unique year from a membership management perspective. 2015 was a year of transition from a manually maintained membership into an online system and 2016 is the first proper year of renewals with the online aspect and my first year witnessing it all up close! For those reasons (and my lack of knowledge of facts and figures from before that time) it's difficult for me to present direct comparisons between this years renewals and those of previous years.
That being said I can offer the following facts about memberships generally and this years renewals:
- Regardless of the expiry date of membership the web system sends 2 renewal reminders by email - one 15 days prior and one 7 days prior. Since the bulk of memberships expire on 31st March all those members with valid email addresses who were due to expire were sent reminders on 16th & 24th March 2016.
- On 1st March 2015 we had 278 members (including 20 honorary)
- On 4th March 2016 we had 281 members (including 20 honorary)
- During the year we acquired 22 new members (so unfortunately we lost 19)
- On 4th April 2016 we had 108 fully processed/paid up/renewed members
- On 4th April 2016 we had 11 pending renewals (ie. have completed web form & paying manually via cheque/BACS/cash but not yet paid)
- Bank renewal payments received = 22 - of those 6 have not yet completed the online process, all added their membership number as a reference & all paid into the correct account
- Cheque renewal payments received: 11 - of those 9 have not yet completed the online process, 10 added their membership number to the back of the cheque
- Paypal renewal payments received: 59 - of those all have completed the online process
- In the last 12 months we have received 92 Paypal payments.
I do urge everyone to get their renewals completed and if they have any issues, to please contact me.
Chris Sheridan
Membership Secretary
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