Episode 2 The Week the Landlords Moved In

This programme contains some strong language

There is a failure to provide enough housing

for the people of this country, but landlords haven't made this problem.

They've just got wealthier on the back of it.

Once a nation of homeowners -

there are now over 11 million people renting in Britain.

And most of the rent is being collected by private landlords.

My philosophy is buy low, rent high.

The truth is we buy property for one reason and one reason only,

and that's to make money.

But many landlords have no idea what it's like to live

in the properties they profit from.

I think the expression "let it and forget it" springs to mind.

When you walk in the house,

first thing you can smell is the mould from this room.

For a pensioner to sleep in these kinds of conditions,

I think it's just disgusting.

And they can't always rely on the tenants to speak up.

If I kick up that much of a fuss,

it's going to be easy to get a new tenant, isn't it?

I can't make it better for you till you say something.

SHE SOBS

So, to experience it for themselves,

these landlords have agreed to swap their home comforts for a week in

their tenants' shoes...

It's very easy as a landlord

to completely detach yourself from your property.

Not even to think about what it would be like to live there.

I'm quite excited. It's like going on holiday.

Oh, goodness!

To see the properties through their tenants' eyes...

Phwoar, it smells a bit. Oh, my goodness.

What on earth is this?

We should have been packing for the blasted Arctic.

..and live on their budgets.

Money, money, money.

How are we going to eat on 54 quid?

And once they've lived the realities of renting for themselves...

We feel like we've lived like paupers.

Bit upset really. I think it makes me feel vulnerable.

Will it make them change their properties,

or how they view their tenants?

What's been building up underneath the surface

is knowing that I'm responsible

for somebody else's living conditions.

HE GRUNTS

Landlords Dan and Jamie started building their rental portfolio

when they were just 19.

There are two types of people - winners and losers.

And I am a winner and I've always considered myself to be a winner.

The money they used to buy property came from trading stocks and shares

online while they were still at school.

I originally wanted to become a landlord cos I wanted to,

you know, take over the world.

I had this idea of having 1,000+ properties,

and build a massive empire.

I didn't want to work for somebody else, because I didn't like the idea

of just devoting my time to making someone else rich.

The pair relocated their property business to Leeds four years ago,

where Dan has moved into a city centre penthouse.

There's just something about being high up that makes you feel good.

In my head, I always wanted the...

..like, 25-year-old version of me to live in a penthouse.

It's a great asset.

I've not quite figured out how to put it on Tinder or Bumble yet,

you know, you can't just take a picture of your apartment

and be like, "I have a nice apartment."

There's been several points where I've felt,

"Life's pretty good at the minute."

-I've never thought,

-"BLEEP

-me, I've made it."

You know, like, "This is success,"

because there's always something more you want.

Jamie and his girlfriend have bought themselves

a semidetached family home.

We bought the property for 310,000,

but actually there's a house across the road,

and it's a massive detached house,

and it's a five-bed, and I think, "Well, that's the next one."

Their respective homes are complemented by the

services of a cook, who prepares all the meals for them both.

The reason we have a cook is to outsource

the parts of life you don't enjoy.

This is all the food that's been left for us by the cook.

Something we are quite on the ball with

is valuing what we're worth per hour,

so, you know, outsourcing this is something like £10 an hour,

and I think we worked out we're worth £750 an hour.

The time they save isn't just for making more money.

Jamie also uses it for his newest hobby.

It's a really cool thing to be doing as a hobby.

Obviously it's more costly than others,

but I love the fact that my success

has been able to make this possible for me.

I also really like the fact that I've got the end goal of being able

to fly my mum over to Paris for the weekend and things like that.

This lifestyle is thanks

to a growing property empire that includes

developments, investments and a portfolio of 14 rental properties

worth 1.1 million.

Worst-case scenario is, yes, this agent will be a bit hacked off.

However, what we'll then do is

get the property back on and sell it to someone else.

But they only concern themselves with the numbers,

relying on managers and local agents to take care of the tenants.

If you want to grow your business to a large scale,

you need to outsource.

You cannot do everything yourself.

Alan Sugar actually has most of his wealth in property.

And there's no way he'd be getting a call from a tenant.

As long as they're getting looked after

and in return we're getting our money,

then I'm happy with that.

This business model has enabled them to buy anywhere in the country that

combines cheap houses and good rental returns,

and they've targeted the north-east.

I can't remember the last time that we went to that area.

You know, the further away they are, the less you think about it.

They're just sort of ticking over nicely, if you like,

but it's not an emotional attachment really.

It's an investment vehicle where you look at the numbers,

you make an investment decision, and you move onto the next one.

Although they don't know it yet,

Jamie and Dan will be moving into this house in County Durham.

This is my room, this is where I sleep.

It's home to 33-year-old Michael.

The main thing what's wrong in here, is just I haven't got a door,

so I've got no privacy. If anybody's ever here staying,

going to the toilet during the night, or what have you,

they'll just see a full view of me lying in bed.

It's obviously cold, because I can't shut the door,

so what I tend to do is if I have got anybody,

or if it gets too cold...

It's always been like that.

Michael pays £450 a month for the two-bedroom property,

which he's lived in for just over a year.

If you try and open these windows as well, erm...

..that happens.

When I first came and viewed the property,

the letting agent said the whole window would be replaced.

I've never had a door on here.

And then this one here, it's rotten.

You can't shut the door.

It's just, like, it's irritating.

So, here's the leftover rubbish from the previous tenants.

There was a lot more at one point. Other people would probably think,

"A bit of a scruff," because you pull out the drive

and that's the first thing you see...

Regular visitors to the house

are friends Helen, Ricky and his son Nate.

This one can fly.

He can fly? Watch him, heights.

Five months ago, a faulty boiler was replaced in the kitchen,

but the job was left incomplete.

They haven't boxed that in, so it's a bit annoying now, cos I've got

people over and obviously it's worrying a bit,

the child being here, because of the hot water pipes,

so, you're on edge all the time.

If I'd come around to view this,

from day one, there's no way I would have this house.

You think it's bad now, you should have seen it

-when I first got the keys.

-I would have had a fit.

I would say I've probably spent around £400-600

to get the house liveable and the way it is now.

I removed the wallpaper off the walls right the way round,

and painted the walls and then put some fresh wallpaper on.

This is what the majority of my pay goes on, the running of the house,

so I'd rather have somewhere decorated nice.

But it's irritating when I come home from work and you can't really,

like I say, enjoy it.

-INTERVIEWER:

-Why don't you just move, Michael?

Cos it's the cost.

Like, removal, admin fees, bonds.

It's not cheap to move.

Michael works as a team leader at the local Tesco's.

I live a minute and a half away from the shop,

so I'm on call 24/7 more or less.

If the alarm goes off during the night, I'm there.

He spends £800 a month on rent and household bills -

almost 70% of his pay.

But he doesn't feel he gets good value for money.

If I treated one of the customers the way that the landlords treat me,

I probably wouldn't have a job.

Until now, Dan and Jamie have had no idea which of their properties

they'll be moving into.

MESSAGE ALERT

Oh, God. Edmondsley.

What do you mean, "Oh, God?"

You don't really hear much about

that property at all, which hopefully is a good thing.

It means somebody's doing their job right.

While his landlords move in for the week,

Michael will be staying in a nearby holiday let.

Door on the kitchen, door on here.

It's how a proper house should be, eh?

What jobs are there here?

Apart from the, you know,

work in the store, working at the local bank, what do people do?

Interesting.

-It's a bit of rubbish.

-Bit of rubbish?

I'm really hoping it's not like that inside the house as well.

Yeah, it's really nice.

Oh, see, this is exactly what you want to see.

Very tastefully decorated.

The tenant clearly takes a lot of pride

in what he's created here, which is great.

That's definitely a boiler that's been put in recently,

so maybe that's something that bothers him or,

if he's fine with it,

some people are, personally, I like them boxed in.

It can be quite dangerous as well, actually.

-Why is the door not on?

-Yeah, that's...

-What a strange thing.

-I wonder if that's something

that the tenant just didn't want on or something.

It would be better if a tenant would let us know,

just so we understand everything that's going on.

Yeah. You're seeing the mastic here.

You do look in and go, "You know what,

"that is not the best job someone could've done on that,"

but we're not paying for the best job to be done on it,

because it is not the best property and the best paying property.

Smaller things, it's probably best the tenant does it itself,

for their sake and ours.

200 miles away, there's another landlord

who's agreed to try tenant life.

Oh, beautiful!

Over the past decade, Prab and his family

have built a property portfolio worth over £10 million.

We have over 150 tenants, and that gives us,

I think it's 30-40,000 rental roll every month.

Wow! I could get used to this.

I could rely on the rental income to live on,

and one of the things about business is that, you know,

is there ever enough?

His 80 rental properties have provided the means

to build his own bespoke five-bedroom house in Essex.

I quite like the way the lighting and audio and TV is all operated

from the phone, so if I want the dining area on and off,

it's all done from the phone.

The bed's got a light under it as well.

HE LAUGHS

It's also home to his three kids and wife, Meena.

I've got two ovens.

This is my funky oven door.

Prab has worked his fingers to the bone to make this house happen,

and every part of it is just exactly what I wanted.

This is a far cry from Prab's upbringing.

I had very humble beginnings.

Um...my dad came over from India in '66

and then got a job at the Royal Mail

and, erm, it was quite tough, actually.

I do remember, I think, when I was seven,

we sort of baked a cake at school and we all had to contribute 17p,

and I couldn't ask my mum for 17p.

I was so terrified, I just burst out crying.

So most of my life has been ruled by making sure that I'm comfortable.

Until recently, Prab devoted his time to managing the entire rental

portfolio by himself.

I used to actually handle absolutely every aspect of the business,

from the purchasing of the properties

to the letting out, the management.

It wouldn't matter, day or night.

I was driven by providing a service,

and I often don't refer to tenants as tenants, they're customers.

One of the things I've always tried to do

is always put your customer first.

But then he decided to move into property development,

and a year ago handed all of the management of his lettings to his

18-year-old son Rowan...

We're dressing a room to get it ready for marketing and photos.

..and nephew Pav.

-Too much?

-Yeah, it looks good.

Have you heard of the karate chop? It's basically a karate chop

you can do in the pillow, just to give it some oomph.

My mum taught me.

Rowan is now the first point of contact for all their 170 tenants.

So, what name would you like to be on the tenancy agreement?

Do you want the council tax to be in your name?

One of the things I do miss is interacting with tenants.

It keeps you connected.

It's really easy to be detached from the world of a tenant,

because you just look at it as numbers.

These days, Prab's only involvement is a weekly catch-up with the boys.

How many potential rent increases are there and what amount is it?

Providing that every tenant's OK with the increase,

I think minimum £2,000 a month is what we're aiming for.

PRAB LAUGHS

-That's great! That would be a good result!

-Yeah?

If you actually manage to even hit 2,000, let's do a trip to Vegas.

-Yeah?

-Yeah?

-Sounds good. I can't get into a club, though.

-Can you gamble?

-No.

-Oh, you can't even gamble if you're less than 21?

THE OTHERS LAUGH

In order to reconnect with his tenants, Prab has agreed to spend

a week living in their shoes with his wife, Meena,

and their two young children.

It's going to be an opportunity to see how our business is operating,

how our tenants are doing, because it just sort of helps you reflect,

a bit like when I go and do my yoga.

My only trepidation, to be honest,

is for Meena, because she's sort of a little bit OCD.

So, I've got two lots of air mattresses, two lots of duvets.

I think it's just her concern about cleanliness.

I'm feeling quite nervous about where we're going,

what to expect.

I'm hoping, otherwise you'll get a kick up the backside,

that you're looking after our tenants

and they live in fairly decent accommodation.

Prab and Meena will be swapping their home comforts

for this house in Leeds.

It's home to 44-year-old IT consultant Vishal...

Six plus one is how much?

..his stepson, Varun...

Six plus one is six.

-What? Six plus one is six?

-Seven.

..and his wife, Pooja.

I am house-proud. My children usually say that, you know,

"Mummy, just give us a break," you know?

Vishal moved to Leeds when his job brought him to the UK 13 years ago.

My perception was, like, the UK is going to be just like in America,

big places, big cars, big roads, then slowly you start getting used

to the culture and what people do, the pubbing.

People keep teasing me in my office as well,

"You use booter, you don't say butter."

I'm like, "Well, it makes no difference

"because I'm a Yorkshire guy."

He only started renting this house

just over a year ago so his new wife, Pooja, and her son, Varun,

could join him from India.

I always thought that, in a foreign country, the houses are perfect.

That's what I have been seeing in the movies.

But when I entered this house,

I thought that this shouldn't be this way.

As you can see, these tiles...

They have painted, actually.

If you look how this paint is just peeling off,

every time you take a shower, look, there you go.

I'm not asking to put some like,

you know, Jacuzzis or anything like that,

but these are some basic things.

This is our child's bedroom.

The moulds form very quickly, because it's really cold here.

Even if you touch, it's literally wet.

There it goes.

That's been cleaned since the last time, but they just form quicker.

It's really upsetting, actually,

because my son can't spend his time in his own bedroom, like, you know,

playing with toys or anything like that.

Vishal thinks it might have something to do

with the state of the back wall.

If you look there, that's the child's bedroom.

The paint keeps peeling and they haven't done good work at all.

They pay £550 per month for the two-bedroom house.

The rent that we are paying is at a stretch because Vishal is the only

earning person in the family.

In India I was working as a paediatrician,

but I need a licence degree to work here as a doctor,

and here I'm preparing for my exams.

They have to keep to a strict monthly budget.

Car insurance is 75 quid.

And every month, we are sending money to our parents back in India.

Yeah. Parents...

But Vishal recently discovered

something in the house he hadn't accounted for.

This electric meter is shared with my next-door tenant,

which I just came to know in the last three months

because there was an electrical inspection.

So, my next-door neighbour is using my electricity

and paying the bills to the landlord.

So he owes me more than, like, £400 or £500.

I really lost hope, actually, when I came to know that.

When he raised this issue with Prab's office,

they proposed giving him top-up tokens

that he'd have to sell directly to his neighbour.

That's not fair, because they haven't repaid

what I have spent, actually.

And he should have his own meter so that they have to pay

the money to the service provider and not to me, because I don't want

to get into that hassle, you know.

Who's used how much? Constantly keeping track.

That's not my job to do.

I'm not the landlord here, I am just a tenant.

So looking at this, you know, totally frankly,

I don't trust my landlord any more at all.

-MESSAGE ALERT

-You have a text.

We're going to the Hilton! No, we're not.

Elland Road. OK.

This is a great property.

It's a building that I bought five years ago, maybe.

It was dilapidated, there were leaks everywhere,

and I managed to split the building into a house and a flat and a shop.

Do you know the tenants that live there?

I mean, I can hardly remember the property, to be honest.

Bye-bye, house! See you soon!

See you soon!

-We're going on a holiday!

-Going on holiday!

Definitely there's going to be a break from the stress

and the problems that we're facing,

and probably a good lesson for the landlord as well. So let's see.

# We're all going on a winter holiday

# We're all going to Leeds now. #

How are you feeling about it?

I'm sure I'll be fine once we're there.

That's quite close to where my uncles live so...

If all else fails...

If all else fails, I'm going home to family.

For the next week, Vishal and his family will be staying in a serviced

apartment down the road.

-Wow.

-Really nice house.

-Really nice, very nice.

We don't mind staying here.

Oh, we're reaching the destination road!

-What do you think?

-Mm-hm.

-This is quite nice.

What's nice about this?

-Come on.

-Just here on the left.

Oh, goodness.

Oh, wow.

Feels a bit like in the Dark Ages, looking at these buildings.

Quite a busy, noisy street,

so I'm hoping the double glazing works well.

Yeah, it clearly needs a bit of work, doesn't it?

Oh, wow.

It smells clean and it looks clean,

so I already feel happy about being here.

It's an Indian family.

Yeah, I can see the pictures.

Do you want to get the envelope on the table for us?

"Welcome. We hope you have a good stay.

"Please be careful with the gas hob,

"as some of the burners don't work

"properly and they tend to go off after they are lit.

"We have been washing the mould off

"the wall in the children's bedroom but it keeps coming back."

Immediately I'm sort of freaked out with the kids,

especially if it's in the kids' bedroom.

Yeah.

Shall we go upstairs, then?

Ah, I remember it now.

Show us Mummy and Daddy's room.

Wow.

-Nice.

-Yeah.

What's that? Is that the mould?

I think it's perfect.

OK, this is a little kiddies' room. Let's have a look.

Wow. Where did they mention about the mould in here?

Was it in the cupboard, they said? Oh, yes, it is.

Yeah, that is pretty bad.

Fortunately, it's not damp so it's obviously historical.

That needs, er, that needs painting

with the relevant paint to sort that out.

I remember this being an issue when we first bought the property.

This is more decorative rather than damp.

Clearly as a mother, I'm also concerned.

Obviously it's the kids' bedroom and, you know,

there's clearly a problem with the mould.

Let's go down.

Again, fortunately, it doesn't smell so that's...

No, there's no smell but, no,

obviously there's a problem there

which I guess needs to be addressed.

Right, so we've got a welcome note.

"Welcome. I hope you enjoy your stay in my home.

"Sometimes it's worth opening the kitchen window when cooking because

"the smoke alarm in the hall will go off.

"If I'm not working,

"I generally have friends around for food and drink as it's cheaper than

"going out. I told them to call round on Saturday

"to see how you're doing and settling in."

-Oh, nice.

-Nice.

Dan and Jamie have been given Michael's weekly budget of £71.53.

"This is for food and leisure.

"All the best, Michael."

£71 each.

That's one night out.

If I blew that going out for drinks with my mates,

I wouldn't wake up in the morning thinking, "Oh, God,

"I spent a lot last night." I'd be like, "That was a good night."

Prab and Meena will also spend the

week living on their tenants' budget.

"Our weekly budget for food and doing other things

"with family is £87.75.

"Hope that is sufficient, all the best..."

-Lovely.

-"..Vishal and Pooja."

£87.

Wow. And what was ours?

-A bit more than that.

-I don't think there was a bit more,

I think there was a lot more.

Didn't we just work it up to about a grand a week or something?

Mmm.

-Wow.

-If the guy's working on an average wage,

he's got to be earning probably a couple of thousand a month,

so I'm surprised he's only got that much as a weekly budget.

Maybe I'm missing something.

I mean, it's not a big budget but most things in life are free.

This is an opportunity to spend time together, which is free.

To explore and go, you know, out and see places, which are free.

But not everything comes for free.

We've got to go and do our shop, have we?

There's actually nothing in here.

Well, what is cheapest if you're not spending money?

What's cheapest, flour?

-Pasta's always good.

-I don't like pasta.

Well, we just need to get the basics in.

Egg's not a luxury, is it?

-No.

-This is...

This is not going to be fun, is it?

The only thing I am going to add to this list is wine.

-That's a lot of money.

-Well, one bottle is

-normally three to four glasses.

-Mm-hm.

We can make that into eight glasses, so that's four nights of wine.

-OK.

-Just when we sip it,

we'll just keep it in the mouth for a little while, don't swallow it.

There you go. Four chicken and vegetable pies, £1.49.

-That's all right.

-It sounds healthy as well.

-Does it?

-No, it's not.

Kebab meat with chips. £1.49.

Honestly, I'd rather lick the bottom of my shoe right now.

Right, that's for you, that's for me.

Right? We'll see what happens.

Not exactly fresh veg but that'll do.

The last time I went to a supermarket to do a full week's shop

was about three years ago.

This is going to last longer than just tonight,

-by the way.

-Do you know what's cheaper than getting chips?

-Potatoes.

-Potatoes.

-Done, then?

-Yeah.

-Cool.

Thank you.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you so much.

I generally feel a bit ridiculous walking around having to think like

that, but I've just spent two pound over my daily budget...

..and all I've done is get basic frozen food.

It doesn't look like the best dinner in the world.

Doesn't cooking today just kind of involve microwaving?

Is there even a microwave?

-Microwave.

-Oh, are you fucking kidding?

There's no microwave.

And we bought a microwavable meal.

So in total, we spent £10.02 each.

On track, think. I go through my budget once a month.

It's never on this kind of granular level.

It's always more things to do with, like,

just moving money around or playing with

different bits and pieces. I can't remember the last time I looked the

-individual items on a bill.

-I think it's a waste of time.

If you're the sort of person that spends so much time looking at every

penny that you're saving,

you could have been spending that time earning a hell of a lot more.

Oh, wow, there's not even another package in there.

It's literally just cardboard and meat.

Wow.

Oh, Jesus Christ.

Look at that! Right, I think I'll be having all four of them.

-Cool.

-All right.

So what do you want, then? Do you want some chips as well?

Chips? Haven't got chips.

-Potatoes.

-Make them into chips, then.

-OK.

-Do you know where chips come from?

No, I know. 100% I know where chips come from but...

Want some? Actually or I could just have boiled potatoes.

-Bit easier.

-Sorry, the concept

of making your own chips there just threw me.

In fact...

do you want to peel?

-Can you peel?

-I'll have a go, mate.

You've never peeled potatoes?

-No.

-You've never peeled potatoes?

I've almost definitely never peeled potatoes.

So is there a technique to this, mate?

-No, mate...

-Surely there's machines that do that for you.

THEY LAUGH

I genuinely thought you were taking the piss.

-Going to need my fingers...

-Jesus!

SMOKE DETECTOR BLARES

You know what I'm going to do is open this window.

Oh, God.

That's really up the creek, that.

It's a bit embarrassing, that, actually.

SMOKE DETECTOR CONTINUES TO BLARE

BLARING STOPS

We need to put that back in after we cook.

Hi, honey, I'm home!

Oh-h!

How much did you, er... how much did you spend?

We spent £37.99.

Ooh! And did you throw in a bottle of wine in there?

Oh, I didn't just throw in a bottle of wine,

I even got myself a bottle of beer.

I know. And I got some of the German meatball things.

So you thought about yourself only?

No, no, no, no. I thought about you

because I got aloe vera toilet paper.

-How about that?

-You didn't get me organic milk?

Well, darling, the whole point was to save money.

Yeah, but you've bought something, two items that only you can eat.

-Which are?

-Which are those meatballs and ham.

I don't eat... I'm a vegetarian, I don't eat meat.

Anyway, just think about what you did there.

OK, maybe I was being a bit selfish.

Yes. Did you bring any salad stuff?

-There's no salad.

-No, no.

-Seriously.

-Because tomatoes, cucumber are a luxury.

How much did you spend on your meatballs?

-No, but, darling...

-How much did spend on that?

It's not about how much I spent on the meatballs,

it's how long can they last?

Do you understand the difference?

You're so full of shit!

No, listen, we can go back, honestly.

OK, yeah, we'll be going back, definitely going back.

Oh, hang on, I just realised...

I think I've poured too much.

I think I'm going to need that tonight.

Can we hide them?

Oh! It's OK, that was daddy's fault!

Oh, God!

Who's going to sleep in the top bunk bed?

-BOTH:

-Me!

-You are going there.

-No, I go there.

No, I go there.

The kids have gone to sleep in the kids' room.

So I'm going to leave them there tonight and see how we go.

There was a slight concern about the mould,

but I'm pretty sure with what Prav has mentioned it is obviously not a

huge problem, so thankfully we're only here for a few days.

I don't know, let's see what tomorrow brings.

Do you want breakfast first or showers?

-Breakfast.

-Right, cool, I'm going to have a shower now.

For Dan and Jamie, the morning routine

is bringing the issues in the house into sharper focus.

It always makes it harder to have a shower

when there's nothing to latch it on to.

There's no shower rail or anything.

Then you have to sit down, I guess.

It should be interesting.

You do have someone staying with you,

and you've got to get changed in the morning,

it's a bit odd to be putting the door back on.

They've decided to call their property manager

to get him up to speed.

You know the door to his room upstairs?

'Yes.'

It's not attached to the door frame.

'Right, he did mention that to me.

'As far as I'm aware, like, the maintenance guy up there

'was going round because he'd been to clear some rubbish from there

'recently as well. And the rubbish got done, and I presumed that

'the door had been done at the same time because Michael's not mentioned

-'it since, either.'

-OK, well, it's obviously not been done,

and there's quite a significant amount of rubbish out in the garden,

the front garden.

'Again, I've not heard anything from Michael.

'I just had a text message from the

'guy that removed it saying it is cleared.

'And I've paid him for it.'

Prav and Meena are also taking a closer look at the facilities.

Yeah, this needs something.

Wow.

Have those tiles being painted, have they?

The tiles, that's paint that's coming off.

I was looking while I was having a shower,

and I think the sort of beige behind the white paint is actually paint as

well. I was actually thinking,

"Oh, maybe we could leave it with that bottom coat."

It looks like it's been painted twice, yeah.

Isn't that a bit of a botched job?

No, because it's just like,

it's just like you would do in your kitchen units.

I'm seeing my bathroom back at home, I want to go back!

HOB CLICKS

Try this one now, see how we get on with that.

That middle one isn't working well. That doesn't come on.

Well, if it's taking this long to light it up...

I think it's that one which is temperamental.

I can smell gas.

-Oh, can you?

-Yeah. I've just got a waft of it.

I don't think... I mean, it's a little bit temperamental.

These two are definitely not working effectively.

I'll be calling just to find out if the tenant has reported

anything in the house, and if he has, what's being done about it.

Down the road, Vishal and Pooja have no such complaints in their kitchen.

You want onions as well, finely chopped?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Life is so easy with these hobs.

It's perfect. And it has made my cooking so easy, trust me.

The hob which we have at our home is just pathetic.

Now they've settled in,

Prav and the family have gone out to explore the local area.

Free parking in Morley! How about that?

With just half their weekly budget left,

Prav not only has to feed the family,

but keep them entertained as well.

-Hey.

-Hi.

-Hi, how are you?

Hey, hello.

OK, thank you.

I didn't think it was going to be £4 each.

£4 each to get in here? OK.

-Chocolate, £2.

-Cup of tea, £1.20.

£1.20.

Well, a pot of tea is £2, we can share one.

I'll get a pot of tea.

How much? These are £3, is that all right?

They're not £3? Each?

-Yes.

-These?

-Yes, they're cheesecakes.

Being in this soft play area today was confronting for me.

It reminded me of when I was a child where I used to not spend any money

or not have much money, and it wasn't nice.

And it reminded me of what drives me.

And, you know, I never want to be without.

Having to live on a budget really makes you appreciate what tenants

probably have to go through.

All the things perhaps that you sort of take for granted on a day-to-day

basis suddenly become luxuries.

Can landlords not help by making renting more affordable?

The landlord can't determine what rent they charge.

If a landlord wants to charge a rent which is higher than the market

price, generally speaking tenants will have alternative,

cheaper properties to go for.

On the one hand, it is, you know, upsetting.

But on the other hand, you know, it is the reality of the world.

Dan and Jamie are getting ready to host a dinner for their tenant's

friends. And to ensure a successful evening, they've called for help...

-'Hello?'

-Hi, you all right?

-..from their cook.

-We've got to issues, really.

We can't really cook for shit.

And we have got a small budget to do it on.

'I'd say probably a lasagne, because you can do that for about £10.

'I can give you a recipe for it.'

That'd be really great if you could send me a recipe, actually.

Thank you very much.

-'All right, thank you, bye.'

-Thanks, bye.

Well, that's spot on, isn't it?

Their guests for the evening are Michael's friends, Ricky and Helen.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

-Hiya, guys.

Yeah, do you want to come in? Do you fancy a drink at all?

Wine will do me just fine.

Yes, that's my favourite.

Not being, like, cheeky or anything, but, like, yous look really young.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Don't worry, that's not cheeky.

We got ID'd for this!

I was just saying, yeah, we actually got did for this.

Do you fancy going through to the front room? And sit down, yeah?

There you are, quite a large...

Oh, it looks nice.

-You've done well!

-So, how is it that you guys know Michael?

I work with him at Tesco.

-The one down the road, or...

-Yeah.

-What's he like to work with?

-Really, really hard-working.

I think there was one week he worked round about 100 hours,

something like that. He pretty much does the job of the managers,

but not on their wage.

Yeah, clearly got a lot of tenacity to be putting in...

Yeah, he's got a lot of heart.

He's that kind of person where, if he had £20,

but you said you were skint, he'd give someone, like, the last 20.

Michael genuinely sounds like a top fella.

His story really resonated with me, mainly because of my mum.

She also worked in a supermarket, so she was in a salaried position,

getting something like £17,000 per year.

And I remember she used to work 100-hour weeks all the time.

She was a single mum bringing up four kids.

You know, I got to experience first-hand how hard she worked and

how shit the money was. And it just seemed so unfair to me.

You know, when you're working so bloody hard,

last thing you want to do is come home and sort of think,

more problems, or anything like that.

Yeah, it does make me sort of feel, right, I want to do right by him.

After Prab's recent efforts at the supermarket,

Mina has popped out to get a few extra provisions.

I do have two bags of shopping.

Two bags?

Yes. But what about all the stuff we've already bought?

I think we needed more stuff. I didn't think that was sufficient.

Anyway, what's the amount?

What do you mean?

-£16.93.

-Yeah.

-That's not a lot for four of us.

-Darling, on a serious note,

are you having a laugh? I'm not, that's how much it was.

We've got £17 left.

I don't understand how... how those figures are done.

It's all there in black and white.

There's nothing to be confused about.

It just means that there is, you know, I don't like being

in a tight spot, that's all.

But anyway, I'm quite happy to

finish off that bottle of wine, really, now.

I might have my beer tonight.

Choices, choices.

Left a bit upset, really, for some reason.

It's not like me.

I think it makes me feel vulnerable.

I mean, usually we would never argue about money,

it's not something we need to argue about.

Obviously I'm annoyed.

I think we had this whole meatball conversation yesterday.

And his essentials, so he's got his beer, he's had his glass of wine.

He's gone out there and he's bought himself some stuff to have,

and I've bought stuff for the whole family to have.

So he'll get over it, I'm sure he'll be fine.

Having spent the week living in Michael's home,

Dan and Jamie are going to meet

their tenant for the very first time.

I want to see what Michael's like.

It should be good to have a genuine, like, normal dialogue with him,

maybe have a beer as well.

Yeah, I'm quite excited.

I really hope we're going to find

someone who overall is happy with his home.

But I think he will have some things to talk about.

I don't know anything about them.

'I've never met them. I don't even know their names,

'I don't know where they're from. If I had to guess

'I would probably say, like, the landlord's probably, like, late 40s,

'early 50s. But I would imagine they would be quite well-to-do,

'to be honest.'

-Hiya, mate, you all right?

-Hi.

-I'm Jamie.

-Hello, you all right there?

-Yeah, nice to meet you, mate.

-Dan.

-You all right?

-Take a seat.

So, how have you been getting on this week?

-Not too bad. Yourself?

-Yeah, not too bad.

-So, where are you from?

-Originally from London, but we live in Leeds.

What brings you to the north-east, then?

-Why buy houses up here?

-It's to do with the yields,

the fact that you can get them at a good price

and you get a very high return on your money, so you get higher rents.

I don't always want to rent, do you know what I mean, like?

I would like to think that I'd be in a position where I could

save some money and then get a mortgage and obviously then

better my life that way.

How's that kind of path going for you?

-How's the savings?

-At the minute, nowhere.

You've seen the budget, like.

I live month-to-month at the minute.

Previous to this job, I had a better paid job.

But when I was 27, I had a stroke.

As a result of that I actually took a year out of work.

-Right.

-Then I joined Tesco, where I am now.

So, I started at the bottom.

One of the first things we noticed, moving into this property,

was how homely it felt.

And I reckoned straightaway that was all you.

Yeah, there was a lot of time and

quite a bit of money went into getting

it to where it is now.

The other things that we sort of noticed

-is some of the works that need to get done there.

-Yeah.

We made an assumption that it was done.

No, no, so, I was making two or three phone calls a week.

-Right.

-And all I kept getting off them was, "Yes, somebody's coming,

"we'll get it sorted eventually."

I don't even know what the set-up is, you know what I mean, like?

As far as I was aware, the manager was my landlord.

-Yeah.

-So, like, you two weren't even in the picture for me.

Firstly, hands up, and I'm sorry for the things that haven't got done.

And the last thing that we want is

for you to feel that you're not valued.

I'm going to be totally honest, like,

if stuff doesn't happen moving forward

then it's going to be forcing us to look somewhere else because, like...

Yeah, that's incredibly valuable to us,

because you can't be the only tenant of ours that's having that.

That was kind of gutting.

And it made me reflect on the kind of model,

and almost how insensitive it is in that we live hundreds of miles from

our property, the managing agent is based a few miles from the property

'as well. There's no person down the street he can easily go to.'

-Thank you very much.

-Lovely. Speak to you later.

-Yeah, see you later. Have a great day.

-You as well.

He said that because of our neglect,

he was going to be looking for other places to see.

So, wow, like, I've had that negative effect on someone,

and I feel...really fucking gutted that I've done that.

So it shows I'm not doing business right at all,

and I need to relook at a lot of things, I think.

This has really made me think about the way that I see tenants on bits

of paper as investments and return on investments, and yield,

and this is what the property costs and that sort of thing,

whereas this brings a much more personal aspect to it.

What do you think when you seen the landlords?

I was proper surprised, like.

We were. I can't believe it.

They look like two bits of bairns, didn't they?

They didn't even look 25.

Here's me renting his house and making him rich.

-I know.

-Couldn't believe it.

So I'd asked them why they decided to, like, buy houses up here,

because they don't live in this area.

And I bet you can't guess what the answer was.

-Cheaper?

-Mm-hm.

So that they'd get maximum rent for a cheaper house up here.

If you've got a bit of money, you're going to buy a house here,

aren't you? To rent out.

It's shocking when you think about it, though.

They live down there, and they are buying the cheaper houses up here.

-We haven't got a chance.

-I agree, definitely.

I'm not, like, saying that people shouldn't be landlords.

But a lot of them are just getting rich.

Why can't they, like, invest some of the rent back into the properties to

make our lives a bit easier?

In Leeds, Prab is also preparing to meet his tenant, Vishal.

I'm just really looking forward to

finding out about him and his wife and his kids and his life.

When I meet the landlord, the main things I'm going to talk about is

the electric meter issue and

the gas hobs, in terms of health and safety.

I just want to know whether things have really reached up to him.

Has he really read our e-mails?

I hope, you know, the landlord acknowledges the issues,

what's happening in this property.

If he's a genuine person, then he should fix it.

-Hello. Hi.

-Hi, Vishal.

-Hello.

-Lovely to meet you.

-Nice to meet you. Hi.

-Please, take a seat.

-Sorry, I didn't get your name?

-It's Prab.

-OK.

Hi. Have we spoken, actually?

-I don't think so.

-No, no, I don't think so. We've never spoken.

-I don't think we have.

-No.

It's been a couple of years

since I stopped the day-to-day involvement

in the management of the portfolio.

OK, so how do you feel about the property?

Have you seen anything? Do you feel...?

-In the house?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

On that note, you know you mentioned on your note about the mould

and the gas hob, how come you didn't mention them to the office?

No, I did mention about the gas hob issue, actually, a couple of times,

-actually.

-How long ago was that?

That was around, like, four to five months.

Right, no, I didn't know that.

Have you seen any difference with the electric meter?

In terms of...?

Do you know, the electric meter is shared between me...?

OK, yeah, this came up, I think

it was a week, a few weeks ago, I think about a week ago.

It really came as a surprise for me.

-Yeah, I can imagine.

-I got to know during one of the electrical

inspections. So basically, you guys owe me a lot of money, actually.

-Yeah.

-And that was a major issue for us, actually.

The other thing was, the mould as well.

-Did you report that to them?

-No, I didn't report it to them.

The reason being is because there are so many things that

-got neglected, I was just sort of, "OK, forget it."

-OK.

-You just thought, "What's the point?"

-Well, exactly.

All right, well, look, I've been there,

-I'm very clear that that's not the standard that we want to keep.

-OK.

And the other thing is, it's given me an opportunity

to look at how they're operating in the office.

-OK.

-So both Pav and Rowan, they're young, my son's only 18.

-So my objective is to learn from it, see where we can improve.

-OK.

Because it doesn't make any business sense to neglect a property because

it's only going to cost more and cause more damage for the property.

My wife's a doctor,

she wants to keep as neat as possible, actually, the property.

-She's a medical doctor?

-Yes, she's a paediatrician,

consultant paediatrician back in India,

but she's not practising now here

-because it's a different medical system.

-She's studying a lot?

-Yes, she's been studying.

-And does she have to pay for this?

-Yeah. It's quite expensive, as well.

-We were speculating because

obviously we'd been put on this budget for the week.

It's a tough budget to manage, actually,

to tell you, frankly. I need some compromises here and there.

It was really, really insightful.

I was disappointed that he hadn't

had that experience of being listened to.

And I don't want that for our tenants to ever feel that.

I'd like to think that when I used to manage the properties,

the personal touch was there.

But, yeah...

There's a responsibility that I have,

not only to my family, but, you know, we've got tenants.

And I do feel that I've got the

responsibility to make other people's lives better.

As the week draws to a close,

it's time for Meena and the kids to head home.

-See you, darling.

-See you on Sunday.

But Prab is staying on.

He wants his son Rowan to come and see the house for himself.

-Hi, are you all right?

-How are you doing?

Come on, let's get in the car.

Were you aware that Vishal wasn't happy about things,

or is this a complete surprise to you?

Yeah, to an extent, Vishal had e-mailed in.

It was nine items.

And at that time,

most of those were addressed.

But even though we might have felt that we were listening to him and

-addressing his concerns, he didn't necessarily feel that.

-Yeah.

Here we are.

Home sweet home.

Basically, this electric meter is

actually running both this property and the one next door and he had to

take it upon himself to sort of find out that that was the case.

-Yeah.

-It doesn't look well, does it, for him to find that out?

-Definitely not.

-You know, I think

it's unfair to expect him to be selling

the top-up cards to his neighbour anyway.

-Yeah.

-Obviously we can't expect him to do that.

So this is where the problem is with the mould.

Can you see it all along that wall there?

-Yeah.

-When I first arrived, I didn't want to sort of sound like I was

brushing these matters off.

I mean, this mould is clearly a problem that needs sorting out.

So, when was the last time you were actually in this property?

It was just before Vishal moved in.

-Over a year ago.

-Yeah, just over a year ago.

Do you think that had there been a visit during that time then some of

these things would have been picked up?

You've not met him, have you?

-No.

-Vishal, for me, he's an ideal tenant, he's professional,

he's kept his house like a beautiful place.

He's the kind of tenant we not only want but want to retain.

It was a bit upsetting to hear that Vishal felt that we were inadequate

to address these things.

We don't want our property to be in that condition,

let alone one of our customers living in those conditions.

You know, these tenants, they're paying our livelihood and we need to

keep them happy at the end of the day.

Rowan is young, he's only 18,

he's only been doing this for just over a year.

You know, whilst he's really taken it on incredibly well,

there's obviously scope for him to learn.

But as the business has expanded

I've had to start letting go, and now,

actually, in some respects,

I sometimes think maybe I've let go too much.

After staying in their tenants' homes...

the landlords are about to leave...

It feels quite sad, actually.

..so the tenants can move back in.

I'm feeling really excited, actually.

Because I just want to see if anything has changed, you know?

You feel a relaxed atmosphere back at home.

We want to go back and settle down again.

We have made that place our home.

It will be interesting to see if the landlord's done any of the work.

I'm not expecting miracles but if there's a plan,

or at least something had started, then...

..I suppose I'd be happy with that.

Dan, do you want something as well, mate?

-Sausage casserole.

-Sausage casserole?

-Yeah, perfect.

What this week has made me realise is the Michaels of this world

are incredibly important.

The people who do go out to work hard, bring home a wage,

pay that on rent, deserve to therefore

have the house that they pay for.

But I think the biggest sort of eye-opener for me is that these

people want to make it their home and I need to help facilitate that.

Oh, so they've managed to get rid of the rubbish, then.

It's a lot tidier, mind, isn't it?

My God.

There's no pipes.

It's better than what it was, isn't it?

You can't see any of the ugliness.

It's canny.

Ah, much better.

I'm pleased about the door actually because it opens and closes now.

You can shut the room off.

Result.

That's canny, that.

They've put the shower up.

That wasn't something that I mentioned.

That was just something that I just put up with.

So I'm happy that I can actually stand

and have a shower on a morning as well now.

And they've tidied all the edging up.

That's much better in here.

"Hi, Michael.

"It has been a privilege to live in your shoes this last week

"and it's clear you have put time and money into the property to make

"it your home. We enclose £400 in this envelope

"to help repay for the investment you've put into the property.

"See you soon and wishing you all of the best.

"Jamie and Dan."

I'm actually really shocked.

I wasn't expecting that at all.

That's actually really nice of them.

If they're watching, thank you.

Because I haven't got a contact number for you.

HE LAUGHS

We're still learning about being landlords and I want to learn about

being a landlord until the age of 90 and beyond.

I really think the insights that

we've been given this week are really

going to help the business moving forward and help us be a bit more

compassionate, emotional, in our approach to our tenants.

And I think that speaks for a lot of landlord-tenant relationships

in that they're so involved in the numbers side

that the humane side of it is ignored to a degree.

Hey!

Oh!

The whole week's been really valuable for me.

Over the last few years, I've handed down quite a lot of responsibility,

and having spent this week at Vishal's house,

I think it was reemphasised how important it is for me

still to have a little bit more involvement than I have had.

Oh, it's so good to come back home.

Wow. Yes, there it is.

It looks changed. That's really nice.

-Yeah, they've changed it.

-They have changed it.

-That looks good.

-Oh, that's quite massive as well.

-It's so big.

-Awesome.

Thank you, Prab.

Wow. He's changed the entire tiling.

-That's good.

-That's really nice.

It looks so clean now.

-It's all clean, yeah.

-Like a different house now,

with a different bathroom.

As far as I can see the mould's all gone, actually.

It is a huge improvement.

I can see the walls are much more cleaner now.

-It makes you feel better, isn't it, where you live?

-Yeah.

"Hi, Vishal, Pooja and Varun.

"Welcome back. We managed to get the mould issue resolved.

"The outside wall will get repainted as the weather improves and a few

"other minor things will also get addressed over the next week or so."

-That's good. That's really nice.

-That's really good.

-Yeah.

"While we get the electric meter issue resolved,

"please accept £100 as a gesture of goodwill until we can work out what

-"we may owe you."

-Can I have this money?

VISHAL LAUGHS

"I really do hope that we can go on to build a much better working

"relationship moving forward and

"have your stay with us be a pleasant one.

"Regards, Prab."

-OK.

-OK.

-That's really good of him, isn't it?

That is really surprising for me,

even though I'm entitled for it.

But still, you know, sometimes, you know,

when you lose hope and then somewhere the light shows up.

I tell you frankly, I'm really, really happy, actually,

about the works carried out, you know?

It makes me more feel like a home now than, like,

just a rented property which was always behind my mind.

Yeah, it's good. I'm glad I'm back now.

-Can I see what you're making?

-Daddy, look. Daddy, look.

This week's helped me appreciate that these tenants are real people

who have real lives, you know, who have families.

And there is a much bigger and wider responsibility

that we carry as landlords. The decisions we make

on a day-to-day basis impact people's lives.