Meet the Landlords

This programme contains some strong language.

There's your key. Thanks very much.

8.5 million of us are now renting our homes.

Still 110?

Would he pay £110 for a room a week like this? Would you?

Riding this rental boom are a new army of landlords,

who own one in every five properties.

Bought it for 35,000, it was valued at £350,000.

That's his thing, it's just money, money, money, money, money.

..Been kicked out of my yard cos of you.

Rents are higher than ever, and rent arrears are spiralling too.

Let's go and do this.

I've got an eviction notice for the rent arrears that you owe.

It appears to me they want possession of the property.

-For landlords and tenants...

-I'm Hercules!

..it's fine when you're getting on.

Paul, you don't know how much I'm putting myself out for you here, son!

But when things go wrong, it's a different story.

Their property, know what I mean?

They are the ones that are going to have to pay for it.

Morning, ladies and gentlemen. Right, I've got quite a busy day.

An investor is supposed to be coming to see me at ten o'clock,

I've got the vet, I've got a valuer coming in at two o'clock.

Meet landlord, Jim.

He owns over 100 properties and his portfolio is worth 26 million.

He specialises in HMOs - houses of multiple occupancy -

renting them to as many tenants as he can possibly fit in.

The latest addition to his portfolio is this modest three-bed house,

which Jim thinks is big enough to turn into six studio flats.

So this will be someone's lounge and bedroom.

We're just finishing it off.

It doesn't necessarily cost a lot of money to turn a property into a shared house.

All you need is a few smoke detectors and sometimes locks on the doors.

The first thing the neighbours do

when they hear I'm turning a property into multi-let is get onto

the council complaining, because they don't like it.

They think you're going to be filling the house full of druggies, paedophiles, criminals.

Good, good. 'We don't want that any more than the neighbours do.'

This is my favourite. It just has a nice feel about it.

-DIRECTOR:

-What would you pay for the kind of bedroom and lounge?

-£95 all in.

-A week?

-Yes.

Once let, this house will rent out for over two grand a month.

Unfortunately, people just can't afford a whole house to themselves.

This is halfway between a hotel and having your own flat.

Quite a few of my tenants are men whose wives have decided

they are no longer required for purpose.

So they end up in bedsit land.

Extra-high strength, the favourite beverage of many of my tenants.

You live in a bedsit land, what more do you want apart from telly, a few cans of lager, and a box of tissues?

Tell it as it is, it's not a made-up theory.

Sorry, life can be fairly brutal.

I've been in the business since '91.

I've got over about 102 HMOs.

I've written a leading manual on the subject.

It's only seven hours' reading,

so for investment of one hour a day, you can become as wise as I am.

Jim is proud to be known as the "HMO Daddy".

He invented the name himself.

He wants to share the tricks of the trade with other landlords keen to move into multi-letting.

This is the first one I bought in 1991.

I bought it for 35,000. It was valued in 2007 at £350,000.

That one property, in 20 years, will replace your day job.

30 years ago, the average age between someone buying their first

property was about 24. Now it's 40.

There's a massive change when people can get onto the property ladder.

Where are they going to live in the meantime?

They can't all live with mummy and daddy.

Not all of Jim's tenants are fans of the HMO Daddy.

I've only got this to go, the George Foreman, and the telly, and then I'm done.

Jim has charged Faye £90 a week for the past four years

for her room in his shared house.

It's just a dump. I wouldn't put my worst enemy in here. Look.

-DIRECTOR:

-What are you feeling about the landlord?

I just think he's a greedy man.

I think he's a greedy person who's out for what he can get.

He don't care, he don't care.

Do you want to come and have a quick look at the damp in the bathroom?

That's his thing, it's just money, money, money, money, money.

Last thing and then I'm gone.

Now she's off. She's found somewhere else, but isn't telling Jim.

Well, I did keep it clean, but, to be honest,

with everything that's happened, you know, why should I?

Jim's had word that Faye has gone.

He's not actually seen inside her room since the day she moved in.

God, it's awful. Come on, Jay, out of there!

Dear me.

Goodness me. Stay out, Jay.

They've bypassed the wires here.

It smells of rotten cats... cat's urine.

This used to be a beautiful room.

They've wrecked the bed, smashed up the microwave.

Kitchen unit is a mess.

Imagine living like this.

The place is disgusting.

Toilet seat has gone. They haven't even flushed the toilet.

Yeah, it's just awful. Absolutely awful.

Like everything, it's the 80-20 rule.

80% are fine, but it's the 20% who cause problems. They just don't care.

They don't care about themselves, they don't care about anyone else, and certainly not the landlord.

They were very, very nice units.

They'll be returned to being nice again.

Come on, Jay, get out.

Jim's empire spans the whole of the West Midlands.

800 tenants call his houses their homes.

With so many rooms to fill, he can't afford to be too picky.

Wonderful.

The bed's been smashed up, the mattress has gone missing,

which seems very odd. The door has been completely smashed up.

It's great, you've got high-security locks here.

The pipe behind is squirting everywhere.

-So that's just been pulled apart.

-Yeah.

-And I'm drenched.

-OK, and you're drenched.

Fantastic.

Smashed the window. Jay, out!

PHONE RINGS Don't know what you'd catch in a place like this.

And has taken the...

Bit strange.

It's just part of the business.

It's sad, annoying, but there's a lot more things to get upset about.

There's no point being a landlord and moaning about it. No-one asked me to be a landlord.

It's where I am. It's not the area I'd choose to be in.

I'd have much rather let to professional people,

those who like to make a thing out of their lives rather than those

who are intent on not only destroying themselves,

but causing harm to other people.

Unfortunately, the area I am in, they are the kind of tenants I have.

I have got no choice but to grin and bear it.

I feel it's grossly unfair.

This is my home, I want my keys and I want to be back in there.

It's been nearly a year now.

Meet Caroline. She's also in the renting business,

but unlike Jim, she only owns one house.

Me and my husband worked incredibly hard for this house.

The position we're both in now, we should be enjoying the fact that, you know, we live in London

and we've got a house, we've got four bedrooms, three kids.

We've worked hard for it, so we should be enjoying that.

And that has been taken from us.

Caroline reluctantly agreed to rent out her family home

when her husband's job took them abroad.

Now she's back, the rent they get doesn't cover the costs

and their tenants won't leave.

We weren't in a position to leave our property empty.

The only people that the agent could find was a family on benefits.

The sums worked out when the council covered the tenants' rent.

But since a cap on housing benefit was introduced last year,

the amount has dropped dramatically.

It's left her with an £800 a month shortfall.

So it's quite a difference.

-DIRECTOR:

-And do you cover that shortfall?

-Yeah.

-Can you afford to?

-Well...

..my husband is working, and that's...

I mean, only because we live a very limited life.

Hello, Daddy.

Dad, Jim, is still abroad.

-Can you see the kids?

-'I can see you now.'

Instead of settling back into the family home,

Caroline and the children are temporarily renting a small two-bed flat 200 miles away.

Life has not been easy.

'When we were in London, it was a bigger house with more room.

'We didn't really get under each other's feet as much.'

-I sleep in here with Max.

-Yeah. Zachary sleeps...

-And Zachary...

Well, sometimes he sleeps with Mummy.

-Or he sleeps on the big bed.

-Yes, we've got a big blow-up bed.

'I've wanted to move back for long time.'

And...well, we can't.

Charlie.

'A black motorcycle parked outside.'

Right outside the house? That's hers. It's hers, so she's there.

Meet Anna. She's a first-time landlord and hoped property would be a tidy investment.

OK, we're coming now.

But the dream's turned sour.

Her tenant has never paid a penny

and she's racked up rent arrears of £5,000 and still won't leave.

Right, that's our house. If you can actually see the house from here.

At the corner just right there, that's the house.

Hello, Paul, we're here. We're just parked around the corner.

-'Are you in that silver car?'

-Yes, we are, yeah.

-'All right, I'm coming.'

-OK, bye.

OK, I can't see her car. Oh, my days, this is really making me nervous now.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

Let's go and do this and serve her.

Anna has finally called in the professionals.

-OK, I'm going to give you a copy.

-Yeah, sure.

Can I just confirm, are you the landlord or are you both landlords?

-I'm the owner of the house.

-That's fine, that's fine. I've made a notice out already.

Hi, yeah, I'm here for the landlord, Anna.

-I've got an eviction notice for the rent arrears that you owe.

-Oh, OK.

-It's for £5,000.

-All right.

-Yeah?

She says, obviously, if you don't pay it, then she has to issue court proceedings and get a court order.

-OK, no worries.

-OK?

-OK, cheers.

-All right, thank you, bye-bye.

A lot of landlords are very naive, yes.

The market is very buoyant, but of course, the bigger the market,

the more bad tenants.

At the moment, it's predicted there's over 94,000 tenants that

have more than two months' rent arrears. As we speak.

'Some tenants won't pay because they don't care about their credit

'rating and they'll just prey on vulnerable landlords.'

Happens a lot. They just want to stay somewhere rent-free as long as possible.

-OK, I've served her personally.

-Oh, so she opened the...?

-Yeah, I got her out of bed.

-Yeah?

-She's just got out of bed.

So now we've got to wait until the notice runs out, which is about 16-17 days' time.

Basically, if she doesn't pay up by 9th April,

-we'll issue court proceedings and get a court order against her. Get a hearing date.

-Yeah.

You've got to think, right, best case scenario, I get my property

back by the end of May, if she leaves by the hearing date.

-Worst-case scenario, it may even go to June or July.

-OK.

And I want you to think that...

If you prepare like that mentally and financially,

then it cushions the blow a little bit.

-Thanks a lot.

-You're welcome. We're going to get her out, don't worry.

There was a point where I just wanted to scream and shout

and go there and just take her out of my house and put my stuff inside,

like any human being would. The first thing is, she's owing me £5,000.

I want her out.

I want to go in front of the house and ask her to leave.

And most of my friends and family, they want to do that themselves.

"We're all going to go and tell her to leave!" No, there's no hurry.

The law here is...make sure you don't harass your tenant,

because it can go against you.

Anyway, I can't really blame them.

I should have taken my own responsibility

and chosen the tenant really carefully, you know.

I need to choose my tenant.

You need to choose your tenant very carefully. It's just...

-Do you blame yourself?

-Yeah, of course I do.

Who else am I... Who else am I going to blame?

The Three Horse Shoes, Jim's biggest property.

The Three Horse Shoes is a large property with 14 very nice units in.

They are all self-contained, what you call studios.

If he fills every room, the rent brings in six grand a month.

This is my living room/bedroom/... home.

Another day in paradise(!)

Mikey rents room two

and has lived in the converted pub for a year and a half.

This is all I have to cook on, one microwave, nothing else.

Look at this. This is what I have to have to have a wash in. Look.

I don't have a shower, just a sink, like. That's it, that is my sink.

This is my bathroom.

This is how wide it is. Small, ain't it?

He's not seeing eye to eye with Jim.

I know it's a bedsit, but on my thingy,

I ain't paying for a bedsit,

I'm paying for a studio flat. This ain't no studio flat.

From your bedroom and living room, it's a bedsit, isn't it?

Most of Mikey's rent is covered by housing benefit, but Jim asks that

tenants pay a £15 top-up for the extras - heating, service charges.

I ain't paid no top-ups, due to the fact my tenancy agreement states

I have a shared kitchen and a washing machine,

so I can wash my clothes.

But not having a cooker and washing facilities,

it's cost me more money to live.

The tenancy agreement doesn't say he has a kitchen.

All it says is that he has his own...

..he has his own room, his own bathroom and his own kitchen.

I mean, look at all this damp.

What you think about the landlord?

He don't give a monkey's fart, as long as he gets his rent.

Would he pay £110 a week for a room like this? Would you?

That's what you got to ask yourself.

He owes £1,546 and four pence. That's a lot of money.

He's not paid anything,

any top-up towards his benefit for some considerable time.

Bye-bye, and...to him.

Pleasant enough when you meet him, but not much we can do with him.

What's this?

Fucking joke, man. Let me read this, man.

Right, non-payment of rent, Three Horse Shoes.

"This is to let you know that due to non-payment of rent,

"we intend to start proceedings through the County Court.

"We will also require that you leave the premises."

I'm wounded in a way, because it looks to me like they are just going

to evict me and they ain't going to find me nowhere or nothing.

So it looks to me, like, when I go to court,

they'll probably issue me 14 days to get out.

14 days I'll be out and where do I go from there?

Know what I mean? I'll probably end up back in jail.

Do you want to end up back in jail?

No, I don't really want to end up back in jail,

but that's what's going to end up happening, I reckon,

because I'll end up committing crime to survive.

Mikey is not the only tenant in trouble with his rent.

His housemate James is also facing eviction.

He owes landlord Jim nearly £900.

There was a red letter for him and he's been on a downer today.

He actually broke down earlier on to me.

I had to give him a bit of love and that.

Hug him, like. Because he's got no family and he's feeling lonely now

and now he's going to be facing eviction.

You don't want to be in hostels at his age.

Do you know, he's worked all his life? He's a pensioner.

He don't go to work no more.

So it's broke me down.

So...

It got a bit too much for me, you see.

In a months' time, the courts will decide if Mikey and James will be

allowed to stay in their rooms, or if landlord Jim will get possession.

First-time landlord, Anna, is also gearing up for court action.

She is now owed five and a half grand.

-Hi, I'm here to see Paul.

-'Yes, you can come up.'

Her tenant has lived in her house for over a year

and still hasn't paid a penny.

I mean, when we go to court, do you know what's going to happen?

Am I going to be standing there? She's going to be standing there?

-We're going to be seeing each other or...?

-It's not anything serious.

It's not like the Old Bailey.

You're not going to get locked up or anything.

We hold your hand in that respect. It's quite a simple procedure.

-OK.

-You get asked two or three questions.

As long as we can prove to the judge

there's more than two months' rent arrears,

the judge has to grant a possession order. It's mandatory.

-It's going to be more than 12 months!

-I know that,

but that's why I can't see a problem getting a possession order.

Your debt at the moment, that's going to accrue.

Here we go, so when we issued proceedings for you - this is

the court paper - it was £5,406.

That was the rent as of 6 April.

That 5,400 could go to 7,000.

Do you not think the government should be more strict?

No, because it's a civil matter, it's not a criminal matter.

It's not as if she's got to go to court

because of a criminal activity. This is civil.

Loads of tenants will ignore it.

A lot of tenants will stay in a property as long as possible and not pay rent.

-Do you not think that's really unfair to the landlord?

-Of course it is.

That's why I set the business up 13 years ago. We've done over 20,000 instructions.

-OK, the eviction, how long will that take?

-That's about six weeks.

So I'm telling you now, and I want you to be mentally prepared...

Where am I going to get the mortgage money until then?

The agreed rent of £1,450 a month would have been plenty for Anna,

but without it she is struggling to cover the mortgage.

There was much more stuff here we need to get rid of and sell.

And we're still probably going to sell most of the stuff here.

Yeah, we're selling this as well. This is already online.

We already put this online, so we're just waiting for somebody to call us.

Like those shoes that my partner bought me, I'm having to sell those.

Most of my bags...

All this that you see here, that's going to go for sale.

This month's mortgage is due.

With money tight,

Anna is preparing to sell yet more personal possessions.

We're also going to sell this mattress here.

The mattress has to go.

Hopefully that will help us with the rent next month.

My partner's going to kill me

if I say this to you, I actually put a Gumtree ad for my dog - £1,500!

I would never sell him now, but this was when he was one month old,

so I didn't have time to get...

I know it sounds funny, but I didn't have time to get used to him,

so I was like, "I'd better sell him before I get too attached to him."

I'd put 1,500 and people would buy him,

because that's how much I needed for that month.

And people were calling, people wanted to buy.

Then my partner found out on the Gumtree and deleted it and said,

"This is not happening."

And every day he was checking on Gumtree to check

if I did something else on there.

No, so...

He's definitely not for sale now.

How bad are finances?

We haven't paid rent for this place, but we have to pay the mortgage

money, so we are in arrears for where we live now.

-Yeah.

-Because you are a tenant?

-Because I'm a tenant, yeah.

Yeah.

Sometimes you would do anything to survive.

Like, I'm sometimes thinking, "I'll do anything.

"I will clean the toilets!" I said to my partner,

"I will do anything right now just to be able to pay the rent."

And...

The government doesn't want to help me

because I'm already having a house and...

And she's already claiming, so...

Which I thought could help me, but I was wrong.

-WOMAN:

-'I've heard stories where people have abused the system terribly,

'so it gives decent tenants a bad name.'

Meet Nicky. She's never actually met her landlord.

This is your room.

She's moved three times in the past four years, which is tough,

-especially when you're a single mum.

-My room!

It took me eight months to find anything,

and this was the only place that came up.

This is the sitting room and that's the kitchen.

In July last year, aged just 35,

Nicky was diagnosed with breast cancer.

-Long hair!

-You want me to have long hair again? Do you?

Last month I had a mastectomy and the removal of lymph nodes.

I went for my results and it turned out that the chemo had obliterated

what was in my breast, but there was still traces of cancer.

It was quite advanced and they hadn't realised how advanced it was.

As well as dealing with cancer,

Nicky and her son Josh are now facing homelessness.

The landlord wants me out, end of.

I've been told that he wants to convert this place into bedsits.

-And you can't find another landlord?

-It's impossible. It really is.

I have had so many numbers, gone on the internet, got more numbers,

and it's, "No, we don't take DSS."

Well, we'll have to see once I get the letter.

What Nicky needs is stability.

As long as they don't keep telling me different things all the time.

With London landlords favouring working tenants, who can

afford higher rents, she'd hoped that the council would house her.

But they've told her they won't. She's not a high enough priority.

Hopefully, she's not just going to keep fobbing it off,

cos that's what she's done already.

Apparently, council properties are like gold dust now.

I'm not disabled enough to get a home from the council.

I'm able to move around. I literally don't need help.

I'm not wheelchair-bound or bed-bound.

-How are you feeling at the moment?

-Stressed. Yeah, stressed.

I don't even want to get out of bed in the morning,

but obviously I have to.

I just wanted to just concentrate on the treatment,

but I have to just...

go with the flow. I've got no choice.

The delights of going to court.

Today it's Jim versus Mikey in court.

Why should I have to go to court?

It's just a long-winded system that you have, that's not necessary.

We should be able to, as you do in some states in America,

if someone doesn't pay their rent, within two weeks they're out.

Mikey is still refusing to pay his top-up. He now owes over £1,500.

You've got nothing to lose by turning up, so...

I know, but it's just fucking humiliation, ain't it?

I just think it's a waste of time going, to be fair.

-Well, it's only you can make the decision.

-It's a County Court.

I can't get a warrant for not going, can I?

I think it's worthwhile going up there to find out what's going on.

'I doubt he'll turn up. I mean, what's his story this time?'

Not paying top-up, causing problems - sorry,

that's the death knell as far as I'm concerned.

I ain't paying top-up because I ain't getting no shared kitchen,

I ain't getting no washing machine. You know what I mean?

Don't know, man.

Come on, let's go. Fuck it!

For professional landlords like Jim,

an appearance in court is almost a weekly affair.

But for first-timers like Anna, it's a daunting prospect.

Her tenant's arrears are now £7,000.

I'm not really feeling too well, because...

I'm actually shaking, like, because I don't like to this stuff.

Why do I have to go to court?

I'm a landlord, I shouldn't be doing all this. I feel like, you know...

The stress and crying and...

you know, losing my temper because I cannot take any more...

And I really don't need to go to court. Why do I have to go to court?

Represent myself in front of judges like I've done something wrong.

I have done nothing, nothing wrong.

And I just don't want to do this, basically.

I don't like to go through all this stress.

SHE CRIES

Michael turned up 20 minutes late. We discussed what was going on.

He became much more agreeable.

I've agreed with Mr Halliburton to pay £52 every fortnight,

starting Tuesday 30th April.

Basically, I'm sweet as long as I don't miss a payment.

As long as I don't miss a payment... hunky-dory.

If I miss a payment, not hunky-dory.

I think he will default, in which case, as soon as he defaults,

as I explained to him, I can ask him to leave,

and if he doesn't the bailiffs will remove him.

I was thinking today he was going to take the room off me

and that would have been it.

But it's panned out all right. I'm glad I come.

Anna's case has also been heard.

The judges decided she should have her property back.

It's a 14-day possession order, but unfortunately that doesn't mean

in 14 days Anna will have her property back.

If the tenant doesn't leave after 14 days, then the court procedures

are that we have to appoint a bailiff to carry out the warrant of possession.

So it could be a further four to six weeks.

And I have to pay for the mortgage while she's still there,

and I have to pay for the place I'm staying in now.

So who's going to pay all these bills? It's me!

Very unfair, isn't it? You can't win, you can't win.

Last year, over 36,000 landlords were granted possession orders

to evict their tenants.

Nicky has received a possession order from her landlord.

She must leave her home.

I had to leave on or before 15 March,

which is in two days' time, so the letter came late.

My concern is leaving here, away from the hospital.

All my family are here as well.

If I move somewhere else, I've got no-one to fall back on.

Anxious not to move miles away from the hospital,

Nicky has made another appointment with the council to plead her case.

Well, apparently, I don't have to leave on Friday now,

because I need to wait for a bailiff's letter, which is

going to be the one to kick me out.

The problem is, I don't know when I'll get the letter,

how long it's going to take.

I could get the letter next week and it could give me a few days,

or I could get the letter and it gives me a few weeks or a few months.

We just don't know.

So you could say that even though the landlord wants

her property back, you can ignore all the letters

until the bailiffs come knocking on your door.

So what's actually going to happen is, I'll get this letter, whatever

it is, and if I'm not out on that day,

the bailiffs will come knocking on my door, and I've seen it,

and they will chuck my stuff out on the street.

And that's what Housing is waiting for.

-Yeah.

-Why do they want it to get to that...?

-I don't know.

They just prolong it as long as they can.

Landlord Caroline is certain that the tenants in her

family home have been given the same advice as Nicky,

and that's why they are refusing to leave.

I think that's wrong that they've given that advice.

They are going to the council to ask for advice

and that's the advice they've been given,

and I think that's quite common for all councils to give that advice.

I understand that councils have got nowhere to put families,

because there's no social housing...

So I don't know what the answer is.

PAUL SHAMPLINA: It is shocking, but it's not the tenant's fault, it's the system's.

We've got an ever-growing population in this country,

coming up to 70 million or whatever it may be.

We are an island desperately short of house-building

and I've never known the social housing to be as bad as it is now.

The wait for a council house has never been longer, and now

a third of housing benefit tenants rent from private landlords.

Basically, you should be on some form of benefits

-if you're going to be living in a property.

-Yeah, I'm going down.

All right, but I am at the end of the phone if you need us.

Bev is a branch manager of Castledene,

-a letting agency in the north-east.

-Well, have fun in your new home!

Around 90% of their tenants are on housing benefit.

And no wild parties, unless Castledene is invited!

-Thanks very much.

-For some landlords it's a good earner,

with £8 billion a year lining their pockets.

But they can't always be choosy about their tenants.

Fuck off!

Meet Asbo tenant, Paul Simpson.

I'm Hercules!

WOMEN LAUGH

"Asbo for drunken yob who phoned 999 to ask for a lift."

I'm the man!

I'm the daddy round here!

He has done in the space of 12 months over 100 nuisance calls.

He could face jail if he continues down this road.

# I'd like to play a little game with you!

# Especially made for you! #

You could call us the third support.

If that tenant there is asking me for help

and if I think they're serious enough, I don't mind that at all.

The police and Paul's neighbours want him out.

They're hoping Bev will be the one to rehouse him.

-I've been up all night!

-Have you?

-Aye! I've been up doing everything.

Have you?

Sexy lady!

Look at these brown eyes. They're come-to-bed eyes, these.

-BOY:

-Oh, God...

-They are!

-BEV: Do you know your son is sat next to you?

Do you know what, I'm not drunk.

-I'm sex on legs.

-You shouldn't have been up all night.

-You knew you were coming here.

-I didn't know.

-You did know!

I gave you four days' notice. Paul, out, come on.

HE CHUCKLES

Out!

Paul, you don't know how much I'm putting myself out for you.

I don't want...

You could end up homeless and I'm trying to stop that,

so the least you could do is be up and ready on time for me

-and not be up all night drinking.

-I've not been drinking all night!

You're still drunk now, lad! Never mind you're not drinking all night.

-I've been having sex all night, man!

-Shut up! I don't want to know.

-SHE CHUCKLES

-Sexy lady!

-Shut up! I've told you,

I won't move you and I'll let you get homeless.

HE LAUGHS

-At least they've got nice doors, haven't they?

-Aye, better than mine.

Look how nice this property is, though. Look at your nice kitchen, man.

I'm loving this. You've been magic!

Thank you very much.

Yeah, but you be magic back for me, Paul, and behave yourself here.

Right?

Don't start!

There is no need for that!

You're going to get sorted, and what you're going to do, Paul,

is take control of your life and make your sons proud of you.

-That's what you've got to do.

-You've helped me a lot.

And I'm going to continue helping you, but you have to help yourself.

You've got to take control of your life

and you've got to make that lad there proud of you.

Proud to say that you're his dad.

How nice would that be? Right?

All right, Paul. So I'll sort out the paperwork.

You just keep answering the phone to me

and I'll let you know when you're moving.

It'll be within four weeks.

Watch how you get at the stairs, cos I'm not paying compensation to you.

Does it make financial sense for a landlord to take Paul on?

Yes, because you're guaranteed direct payment with Paul.

If he's got Paul in, he's getting guaranteed rent,

he's not paying Council Tax and he's getting his mortgage paid for.

So, yeah, it makes sense to put Paul in.

-Sexy lady!

-Paul, behave!

-I'm not doing nothing!

Landlord Jim has his own fair share of problem tenants.

But one of his properties is pushing him to the limit.

-MAN:

-144 Sandwell Street?

Two tenants have turned this house into a drugs den.

-It's a nightmare for Jim.

-They've kicked the door into room one...

Oh, God, and they've blown the door through to room 2.

He's sent his staff in to try and shut it down.

It's a crack room. What's all the gear doing on the table?

-WOMAN:

-There's nothing here.

-You told me you weren't going to do...

..prostitution again. But you started it again.

I gave you the benefit of the doubt. You promised me.

I mean, when you moved in here, it was a roof over your head,

-you was warm, you were secure.

-Yeah... I was so happy.

Yeah, and you've cocked it up.

-It's just a vicious circle...

-But it's only you can break that cycle.

And if you don't want to help yourself,

then nobody else is going to do it for you.

Pack your stuff and bog off!

Can you sign this?

It's just to say that we've been here,

what we're doing and everything else.

If they can persuade the tenant to give up her room,

it will save Jim from a lengthy court battle.

I don't voluntarily give up...

I've nowhere to go.

You can have £10 if you give me the keys, sign that paper and walk away.

If I could evict quickly, I would do so.

And usually we try and persuade these tenants to leave. We even bribe them.

So there they are, they're causing harm, they're not paying rent.

I have to bribe them to leave. So they are rewarded for being wrong.

Wants a tenner. Wants a tenner.

The damage to the house has already cost Jim three grand.

And on top of that, the tenants haven't even been paying rent.

It's the biggest hit, as a landlord, I have with a property,

because you lose all your tenants, you lose the income for a few weeks

while the place is sealed up and it's slow to let.

It takes weeks to re-let the place.

And you don't get any support or much sympathy from the police or anything else.

They just say to you, "You're the ones who let the property."

Property has been Jim's route to financial independence.

The HMO Daddy is a self-made man.

As a boy, I was brought up in kids' homes.

Your self-esteem is battered in those places.

I remember the first school I went to was in the children's home

and the teachers said, "Oh, they come from the local children's home.

"They'll never amount to anything."

In those days when you left care, you are just out on the street, bang.

So much is down to your mental attitude.

So little in life is down to ability, intelligence, talent.

It helps, don't get me wrong, but it's just down to a mindset,

believing you can do it.

It's been two weeks since Anna's day in court.

I can't believe she didn't let me know.

To her surprise, her tenant has moved out.

This... This... Must be a fire in here. And this whole kitchen was new

when she first moved in.

The whole unit is damaged there.

Look at the carpet. This was brand-new.

And here, look at this. I tried to change the locks earlier.

I can't get in, because the screw has been damaged right here.

I can't get it out, right?

Because this was purposely damaged or she was trying to change it

herself and damaged the screw and she left it.

She may have wanted to change the locks

or she damaged it purposely so I have to pay for the labour.

Anna has decided to put her house on the market.

She wants out of the landlord game.

Puts me off 100%. 100%.

I wouldn't sell the house if it didn't put me off.

I would have rented it to somebody else to make money.

But I don't want to. I want a peaceful life.

She took my mirror! She stole my mirror! She...

She took the mirror off my...! Oh, my God. That was my mirror there!

That's mine!

It's been ten months

since Caroline began the fight for possession of her family home.

We got an email from the landlord.

Her tenant's arrears are over 15 grand

and her case is being heard in court.

"We are pleased to confirm the judge granted a possession order.

"The tenant must leave the property by 25 April, 2013.

"Should they fail to do so, it will then go to step three

"and arrange for a bailiff to evict the tenant."

And of course that could take 4 to 8 weeks after the date,

which we knew anyway.

25th of April?

Yeah.

-Oh...

-Two weeks.

Then we'll probably have to get the bailiffs in four or five weeks,

but we did know that.

That's just fantastic.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We should get it back by about the end of May, beginning of June.

That's brilliant. That just such a relief.

It's just feels more tangible now.

That could have gone on for ever and ever,

but it's, like, much more in sight now

that I'm going to get the keys back now, so it's brilliant.

The courts have said that the people who are staying in our house

in London have to leave,

and they have to leave in a couple of weeks' time.

Unfortunately, they probably still won't go then, but then we have

got to go to another stage, which will mean that they will have to go.

But it's one step closer to getting our keys back,

so it's really good news.

HE SHOUTS EXCITEDLY

-Get your own bedroom?

-Yes, yes, yes!

I'm quite excited.

I can remember it very well, but I haven't been there in ages.

I suppose it's because a court has said I can have my house back.

It's ridiculous, isn't it?

It's my house, but a court has actually said that I can have it.

It's a new feeling - happiness!

In London, things are finally looking up for Nicky and Josh.

Keys!

Yes!

After three months of uncertainty, the council eventually

put Nicky in touch with another private landlord.

My old keys!

One who would accept them even though she's on housing benefit.

Come on!

-Here you are.

-So, it's here!

Ooh!

-I like this one.

-It's nice and big, isn't it?

-In here, this is the kitchen.

-Bigger kitchen.

-It is a bigger kitchen!

-Oh, you're clocked it! Do you want to have a look?

-Yes, in the garden!

There you go. Off you go!

I have to explain something to you, though, Josh.

This bit is ours, all this here,

and that bit over there belongs to upstairs.

But we might be able to have access to it.

-I like these old toys!

-Do you?

Excited! Yeah, really excited. I can't wait now.

So much better than where I am, isn't it? I mean, it's bigger.

-Does it feel like it could be home?

-It does, actually. It does, yes.

Once I've got all our stuff in here and it's me and Josh

and he's decided what he wants to do, what goes where.

This is where we can eat!

That's what it is, it's between me and him.

-SHE LAUGHS

-He's like the King!

And I was thinking of putting your book shelf there outside your door.

So I think we're looking at next week.

-Good news, we've got your property back.

-'You got it back, have you?'

Yeah, we've got the property back.

You can't stress any more, yeah?

Everything is left. There's one big issue with regard...

I mean, it has been left in... There's a lot of rubbish left here,

like they've left quickly, you know, everything is last-minute.

In the lounge, are you aware of the massive problem with the ceiling?

Just going into the kitchen. Yeah, the kitchen is a massive hole.

For you to come and live here, Caroline, you're going to have

to spend a few quid, obviously, to get it back up to...

a liveable state.

Oh, blimey.

Right...

There's loads of bed mattresses dumped, and clothes

and office chairs and pine furniture dumped in the top bedroom.

-'Right.'

-The top window is cracked.

-'Really?'

-There's a crack in the top window.

How much was the rent arrears in the end?

'Just over 16,500.

-'Wow, £16,500.

-'16,500, just over.'

-Right...

VOICE FADES

The total portfolio is probably

about 26 million,

but I owe a lot of that to the lenders.

But if you wait another ten years and property values have doubled,

you see the big advantage in owning property.

So it's just buy, hold,

and cross your fingers when the next boom comes.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd