It was interesting to read about the new Renters Rights Act (Metro, Fri), which sweeps away fixed-term rentals, allows all tenants in England to leave with two months’ notice and ends evictions. I’m a landlord myself. Bad ones tend to be the focus of views on the rental market, so I’d like to balance the argument. I bought a property more than ten years ago and have welcomed tenants. I haven’t raised the rent at any time while they were in the property. Any issues when reported to me were dealt with on the same day or within 48 hours. The tenants have always looked after the house, so the return of deposit is speedy. One former tenant sends my family a box of chocolates each Christmas. Whenever they move on, I give them a reference to acknowledge they have been good tenants. Another former tenant lets me know how well her children are doing. Yes, there are bad landlords but most are decent and fair people.
John, Bury
Should Starmer Focus on Restoring the UK Rather Than EU Ties?
Keir Starmer is risking a Brexit backlash in tomorrow’s local elections amid claims he’s to pay £1billion a year for closer trading links with the EU (Metro, Tue). I’d be so happy if he could put a fraction of his energy into restoring our country instead of his ambition to rejoin the EU. Going back into Europe will cost trillions with so little benefit to us. Our aim was to be independent and if politicians had worked together this would have been possible.
Molly Neville, Sheffield
Sarcasm Galore on ‘Entitled’ Employees
Broadcaster Andrew Neil was branded ‘arrogant and entitled’ after bragging about how he got a waiter sacked for questioning his 15 per cent tip (Metro, Apr 29). This only serves to support my views about ungrateful employees. Workers of the world, consider yourselves lucky you can land a job in the first place in this modern age. Make the long journey, take your long, hard shifts in your stride, wear minimum wage as a badge of honour and – above all – don’t ever question your tip sizes or ask for raises.
Jordan, London
Utility Companies Shouldn’t Dig Up Busy Roads on Holidays
Who is allowing utility companies to start digging on busy roads during holiday weekends, causing major disruption? This seems to happen all the time and shouldn’t be allowed.
Lyn, Glasgow
Trump Beaten by Iranian Underdog on Snooker Table
During this illegal and insane war between Donald Trump’s USA and Iran, there was one brief moment on a snooker table in Sheffield that summarised the ridiculous affair: Iranian outsider Hossein Vafaei beat world No.1 Judd Trump. I can’t imagine the headline ‘Trump beaten by underdog Iranian’ going down well in the White House.
RA Skett, Tamworth
Too Explicit for Metro
When I saw John Stephenson pulling a car using his manhood while on fire (Metro, Tue), a word came to mind to describe him – alas, it’s not suitable for a family newspaper.
Mike, by email
Resident Joker Makes a Comeback
An estate agent gave me a cup of coffee. All I wanted was a proper tea.
Jeff, Nuneaton
