{"id":70,"date":"2018-06-07T16:32:42","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T16:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.idealflatmate.co.uk\/landlord-HQ\/?p=70"},"modified":"2018-10-11T12:39:20","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T12:39:20","slug":"qa-with-gertie-owen-award-winning-landlord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/landlord-HQ\/qa-with-gertie-owen-award-winning-landlord\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Gertie Owen, Award Winning Landlord"},"content":{"rendered":"

We often hear shock stories about bad landlords in the media. And these stories fuel the stereotypes of landlords as fat-cats who are only interested in making money and exploiting tenants. But with 2 million private landlords in the UK managing 5 million properties, these stereotypes are unhelpful if you want to build an understanding of private landlords.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is important at a time when many landlords face the threat of being pushed out of the industry due to rising costs <\/span>driven<\/span> by anti-landlord government policy. If we don’t encourage and protect the many <\/span>good<\/span><\/i> landlords among that 2 <\/span>million<\/span>, the end result is going to be fewer affordable rooms for us to rent.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To talk shop and smash through the negative misconceptions, we caught up with an award winning landlord<\/span>: Gertie Owen, a Landlord of the Year Award winner.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>It’s clear after speaking with Gertie, that she built a successful rental property business through\u00a0<\/span>sheer dedication<\/span>\u00a0to her tenants. Taking pride in making them feel comfortable and at home, nurturing flatshares with compatible tenants who become friends, and even giving out Christmas gifts. Gertie learned the business of becoming a landlord by joining Platinum Property Partners, a landlord group with over 300 partners in more than 200 areas across the UK.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While we can’t all have a landlord quite as good as Gertie, she does believe there are many more great landlords in the UK than is commonly realised. And research from Platinum Property Partners supports up her point. Ninety-nine\u00a0<\/span>per cent<\/span>\u00a0of their tenants would consider recommending their property and landlord.
\n<\/span><\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/b>Ideal Flatmate: <\/span><\/b>What do you think about the negative press landlords get sometimes?<\/span><\/span>
\nGertie Owen: <\/span><\/b>I feel disappointed and frustrated, as it seems difficult to change the media perception of Landlords. There are actually lots of great landlords, but we only hear of the minority bad ones. I feel its time for a change, and good landlords should be recognized.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nIdeal Flatmate: <\/span><\/b>Do you think the government <\/span>should<\/span> be more supportive <\/span>to<\/span> Landlords?<\/span><\/span>
\nGertie Owen:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Yes, as we provide the <\/span>much-needed<\/span> housing that the government have failed to provide. <\/span>Instead<\/span> they make it harder and harder for landlords. With the advent of clause 24, landlords will be taxed on their turnover rather than profit, which means we will be taxed on <\/span>non existent<\/span> income, <\/span><\/i>as they will not be able to offset their biggest expense (mortgage interest).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>This will cause landlords to leave the market and mean less accommodation is available for those who want to rent. Or, landlords will have to put up rents to make it viable to stay in the market.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nIdeal Flatmate: <\/span><\/b>How do <\/span>Platinum Property Partner<\/b><\/span><\/a> landlords stand out compared to others?<\/span><\/span>
\nGertie Owen: <\/span><\/b>Platinum Property Partner landlords provide high standard accommodation, with affordable rents, to young professionals. We pride ourselves on exceptional service and going <\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>extra<\/span> mile. In a recent survey, <\/span>ninety nine<\/span> per cent<\/span> of our tenants said they would recommend their property and landlord to a friend. This year marked our 10 year anniversary and as a <\/span>group<\/span> we purchased our 1,000th home. We now provide homes for over 6,000 tenants across the county.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nIdeal Flatmate: <\/span><\/b>Do you enjoy being a landlord?<\/span><\/span>
\nGertie Owen: <\/span><\/b>Yes I love being a landlord! I am passionate about improving <\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>perception<\/span> of landlords and I love providing a home for my lovely tenants, making their life as easy as possible. I treat my tenants like VIPs and take great care when picking them<\/span>,<\/span> so that I know they will fit in well in my houses, <\/span>where hopefully they can make friends for life.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>All my tenants receive birthday cards, Easter eggs, Christmas presents and hampers. I decorate the houses for Christmas so they can feel at home. I pick them up from the stations for viewings and show them the area, so they can decide better if the room is for them. I get great satisfaction when they leave and tell me how great their stay was living in one of my houses. It makes my job worthwhile!<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/b><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We often hear shock stories about bad landlords in the media. And these stories fuel the stereotypes of landlords as fat-cats who are only interested in making money and exploiting tenants. But with 2 million private landlords in the UK managing 5 million properties, these stereotypes are unhelpful if you want to build an understanding … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Q&A with Gertie Owen, Award Winning Landlord”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":71,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380,"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions\/380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/landlord-HQ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}