Can anyone reccommed a good Landlord association or similar?

[Memoo]

Dh and I are like the blind leading the blind at the moment. Somebody reccommended a landlord association or club on anther thread but I can't find it.

There's no professionally recognised organisation or course; even ARLA's exams (for letting agents) are a pile of crap.

I do rate Tessa Shepperson's Landlord Law organisation - I've done a few of her courses and the landlord forum is very helpful.

My top tips:

Don't use a letting agent if you can possibly help it: money down the drain, and in my experience as both a landlord and a tenant, are more likely to jeopardise a good working relationship than maintain it. Instead, pinpoint your "target audience" and advertise in their halls of residence, trade journals or in-house noticeboards. Then manage your property yourself.

Credit-check thoroughly and ask for a reference from their employer and their previous landlord (which you should then follow up by phone). Don't touch anyone self-employed unless they have 3 years' accounts - my very worst tenants for arrears have all been junior barristers and dotcommers.

Find an excellent plumber, gasman, electrician and handyman and treat them like royalty (pay invoices immediately; chocolates and wine at Christmas etc) so they'll put themselves out for you when your tenants need help at short notice.

Get a lawyer to draw up a bespoke AST specific to each property - and allow tenants to make changes to the contract if you wish (as long as your lawyer okays them).

Get landlord insurance and make sure you have legal protection and indemnity as standard.

if they wish. You'll not want changes, obviously, but your tenants might want to insert clauses and it's best to allow them to do this if it helps them feel more secure.

We have found landlordzone quite a helpful website.