Fledgling trade group dares any challenger to "bring it on"

A post on a landlord website suggests that a new trade body is being set up to challenge the dominance of the Residential Landlords Association and the National Landlords Association.

The post, on Property118, comes from Southport landlord Larry Sweeney who says that he has been considering setting up a new body for some 18 months. It’s to be called the National Landlords Alliance.

“I won’t bore readers to death explaining why. We all know how frustrated and sickened the community is with the other main associations failing to aggressively fight our corner and instead assist the councils implementing their rotten Selective licensing schemes. Enough is enough” he writes. 

Sweeney says he has resisted trying to set up a rival until now, anticipating someone else may step in to do the same. However, he says his new body - the National Landlords Alliance - is nearly ready to launch. 

He also says: “Before I go any further if the National Landlords Association wish to take issue with the National Landlords Alliance, I say bring it on. Do it now.”

Sweeney says banking facilities are now in place and he is volunteering to act as the body’s chief executive - without pay - while the organisation is established. He also has someone who may join to handle PR and secretarial duties.

In a swipe at the established landlord groups’ activities, Sweeney says: “We will not be selling courses or cheap smoke detectors. We will absolutely never assist councils implementing any scheme to the detriment of landlords. As regards document downloads, they are available from other sources. We will be 100 per cent focused on aggressively fighting the landlord’s corner.”

He says the annual membership fee would be £100 although at this stage Sweeney wants only pledges - he is targeting 1,000 pledges as the critical number to make the trade group viable.