Leading landlord associations the RLA and NLA FINALLY merge

The UK’s two leading landlord associations have at last merged to create the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

The union was first announced in September last year but both the merged organisations, the RLA and the NLA, postponed the original launch date of January 1^st after its original schedule proved ‘too ambitious’.

In September it was also revealed that the NRLA had a new chief executive in the form of Ben Beadle (left), a social housing executive.

In January Beadle said that despite a target of January being set at the time of the members’ vote last September, this was ‘ambitious and technicalities have put dates back by a few weeks’.

Today’s announcement, three months later, has revealed that the new merged organisation is to be chaired by Jodi Berg (pictured, top).

She replaces the two outgoing chairs of the NLA and RLA, Alan Ward and Adrian Jeakings, who remain on the NRLA board.

Berg’s experience includes a non-executive directorship of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and chairmanship of public bodies including an NHS Trust, the Administrative Justice Forum and a probation service.

She says: “I think the new NRLA has a bright future and it is great to be on board from day one.

“As an association we now represent more than 80,000 landlords and the more we grow this number, the stronger our voice will be.

“We need to encourage landlords to come together and support each other and work with other areas of the sector to bring about positive change for both landlords and tenants.”