• LONDON Assembly member and councillor Sian Berry wants landlords to be forced to give longer security of tenure, (Private renters need protection from sudden evictions, City Hall told, July 12).

She misses the point. No one has to be a landlord. Every year hundreds of landlords sell up. The main reason is that they are getting elderly and it is too much hassle.

The government must ensure that there is an abundant supply of new properties coming onto the market. Every now and again a landlord takes their eye off the ball but the private rented sector has a staggeringly high satisfaction rate.

All you ever hear about is rogue landlords and swingeing prosecutions as the government beats landlords into raising standards. One of the ways a person becomes a landlord is inheriting property.

This will not always be in the best condition but tenants crave cheap and cheerful accommodation. A landlord could slowly use the rental income to bring up the standard.

You can no longer do this in case the council suddenly demands that you improve the standard and spend tens of thousands of pounds in a short space of time and you cannot evict the tenants and sell up until the work is completed. In a few years time there will be nothing left except luxury flats.

Cllr Berry cites the case that a person cannot run to be a councillor in case the landlord issues notice to quit and they have to move, but anyone who is already renting can surely find a similar property in the same borough.

A void is a landlord’s worst enemy and it does not make any sense for a landlord to issue notice to quit without good reason. The two-months’ notice to quit strikes the right balance between the landlord and the tenant.

If Cllr Berry has known a large number of people being given notice to quit, it could be that landlords are selling up in their droves. It is time that the government backed off and stopped bashing landlords.

JONNY BUCKNELL
Chamberlain Street, NW1