NLA and RLA Announce 2020 Merger

Members of two of the UK’s biggest landlord organisations have voted in favour of a merger, which will take place in January 2020. The new association, which will be called the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), will have more than 80,000 members and, therefore, will have a louder voice in the buy to let sector.

Friendly Rivals

The two separate organisations have been friendly rivals for more than two decades, fighting for the rights of landlords and letting agents all over the UK. But times have changed and the boards of the RLA and NLA endorsed a merger back in August. A joint statement was released by the two Chairs, Alan Ward (RLA) and Adrian Jeakings (NLA) , which said:

“After more than 20 years of friendly competition the time is right to create a single organisation to represent and campaign for landlords.

“With so much of our work done in parallel there are major benefits to be gained for our landlord members.

“We will be stronger together when presenting a unified voice to government both nationally and locally about the importance of supporting the majority of landlords who do a good job providing the homes to rent the country needs.”

AGM Vote

A general meeting took place on Tuesday 17th September 2019, where members all agreed that the merger was a great idea.

The new organisation will fight for the rights of both landlords and letting agents. It will represent the interests of landlords who own around 10% of the housing stock in the private sector. This gives the NRLA a lot of clout when it comes to PRS matters. A more powerful voice should help the organisation lobby government in matters pertaining to landlords and offer greater support and more services.

New Board and Chair to Be Appointed

The existing chairmen – Alan Ward of the RLA and Adrian Jeakings from the NLA – and both boards will step down with a new chair and board of directors to be appointed to represent the NRLA. Some candidates will probably be recruited internally, but members are encouraged to express their interest in any of the posts if they want a greater say in how the NRLA is run.