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Hey, Renters, Is Your Landlord 'Rogue or In Vogue'?

The UK's National Landlords Association is launching a campaign to improve the image of misrepresented landlords, so we thought we'd apply their fun "rogue or in vogue" classification to some of their other recent campaigns.
Simon Childs
London, GB

People protesting about the housing crisis. Photo by Chris Bethell

You know when your landlord doesn't sort out the damp in your bedroom and the walls turn to the texture of a rancid cake and then it spreads to your living room and your childhood asthma comes back and it's, like, suuuuuuu not in vogue?

This, apparently, is how the UK's National Landlords Association (NLA) is hoping renters start discussing their housing troubles from now on. Is your landlord withholding your deposit for made-up reasons? Very un-chic. Has your living room suddenly been turned into a bedroom so that another few hundred pounds can be squeezed out of your already cramped flat? That's totally not fetch!

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The good people at the NLA have come up with a fun campaign called "Reinventing Renting," where they will be "asking tenants across the country if they can tell the difference between good and bad landlords."

"Reinventing Renting looks at the characteristics and qualities of professional landlords and seeks to help tenants identify whether their landlord is a 'rogue' or 'in vogue,'" the campaign explainer explains.

Thanks, landlords! For those people who wouldn't recognize a bad landlord when their ceiling is collapsing on their heads, this campaign will be a real help.

Carolyn Uphill, Chairman of the NLA, explains more in the press release: "Landlords suffer from a poor case of perception in the media and the wider public, despite the fact that the vast majority work hard to provide well-maintained homes and to keep their tenants happy."

Poor landlords—let down by a few rotten apples. Can't the good guys just be left to sit on the sofa taking a chunk of the money that their tenants work for without their names being tarnished by scumbag journalists?

Uphill continues: "This is a serious issue for us, but we wanted to have a bit of fun with it so we attempted to characterize some of the qualities that define a landlord that is 'in vogue' so tenants are better able to avoid the rogues who tarnish the reputation of the sector."

I can't help but think the "having a bit of fun with it" thing puts it up there with the police trying to be cute on social media (oh, and they're still institutionally racist, lol). But as the press release tells us, "The campaign also provides valuable support for landlords, helping them to improve their businesses and enhance their properties." So maybe there's some practical value in this campaign after all. Maybe I'm too cynical?

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Bearing that question in mind, let's play a game of "Rogue or in Vogue" with the NLA's other recent campaigning activity:

Questioning the need to legislate against "revenge evictions" and reporting that a previous bill failed to pass due to "lack of support," when in fact it got filibustered by two caricature evil-Tory MPs, one of whom was a private landlord. ROGUE OR IN VOGUE?

Arguing against the need for rent controls when London is one of the world's most expensive cities to rent in. What do we reckon, guys? ROGUE OR IN VOGUE?

Snorting with derision at the policy proposals of a renters' campaign group, such as five-year tenancies to give some stability to renters. Haughty dismissal of stupid poor people is a great look, so let's say IN VOGUE?

Throwing their toys out of the pram because George Osborne raised the tax on buying a property in order to rent it out, to stop landlords squeezing people who actually want to live in a home out of the marketplace. ROGUE OR IN VOGUE?

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