Graham Norwood's Blog, June 2009 for Chard London Estate Agents

Housing market green shoots appear like mirages in the summer heat. They are on the horizon and then fade when you come close. Red tape, alas, appears all too real.

Word on the street now, amongst lettings and sales agents alike, is that many landlords have had enough.

£50 for a licence may seem small fry for landlords to pay if, as appears likely, a new initiative from the Department of Communities and Local Government comes to pass. But surely we’ve reached the point where landlords have to shout: Stop!

Think of what else they have to pay for. There’s the annual gas and electricity safety inspections, an energy performance certificate and inventory and deposit charges. Some need a licence if they own a House in Multiple Occupation – and if they did not quit as landlords when that law came in two years ago – plus a fire certificate.

Each of these measures costs hundreds of pounds, takes weeks to arrange, and bites into rental income at a time when landlords have to encounter hard-bargaining tenants and the prospect of capital values falling.

Little wonder landlords are depressed.

If MPs could stop completing expenses applications, they might consider scrapping the red tape if they want a sustainable private rented sector and a kick-start to the housing market.

What are the chances of that, then?