I AM writing in response to the letter on house prices dropping.

As a fellow Halliwell resident, they are right to highlight the problem but the council is not to blame.

The issues highlighted of property prices plummeting and being bought up by buy-to-let landlords is one seen in towns and cities across the UK.

I am sure most councils would love to be able to tackle some of the irresponsible landlords in the private rented sector but the current Tory-led Government will not give them the power to do it. Currently, Bolton Council has no influence over who can become a private landlord or who are housed in the properties.

It is completely unacceptable that residents can not find the landlord of nuisance tenants and, even if they could, they would have absolutely no power to make them deal with the problem.

It is important to note that many of these private landlords are active backers of the Conservative Party — I wonder why?

Five more years of a Tory Government will only see this problem get worse as they continue to actively encourage the buy-to-let culture that is fragmenting communities like Halliwell.

Richard Lewis Halliwell