Paul Shamplina is famous for his relentless energy, optimism and street savviness but despite this, the 54-year-old star of Slum Landlords, Nightmare Tenants says he is ‘hugely worried’ about the private rented sector.

“I completed my first eviction in 1991 so I’ve been doing this for 34 years, including running Landlord Action for 25 years, but I’ve never known landlord confidence to be this low; so many tell me they’re ashamed of being landlords now,” he tells The Neg.

So how did we come to this? Part of the reason is that privately rented homes have been transformed from a ‘Cinderella sector’ into one of the most important sources of revenue for many estate agencies, and is a sector that now houses a fifth of the population.

But with expansion has come political attention – and while bad landlords and rogue agents were once a side show, today we have the Renters’ Rights Bill that will significantly change the way tenancies, properties, landlords and renters are managed.

“We recently did a survey of agents which found that nearly half of them haven’t woken up to the reality of this Bill and what it will mean for their businesses,” says Shamplina.

The days of the ‘hobby’ or ‘amateur’ landlord are rapidly coming to an end

“And that includes how landlords are changing – the days of the ‘hobby’ or ‘amateur’ landlord are rapidly coming to an end, a process that is being accelerated by Labour’s reforms.”

Shamplina has seen it all since the foundation of Landlord Action, including his campaign that the best operators should be regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

“Doing evictions has become more complicated since the early noughties –for example back then you didn’t have conditions like mandatory deposit protection and gas safety certificate proof attached to them,” he says.

“Now that Section 21 evictions are to be abolished by the Renters’ Rights Bill, and an increase in the number of grounds that landlords and letting agents will need to consider when applying to a court to evict a tenant, means the process is going to become even more complicated and costly.

“These changes mean I am worried that landlords won’t be protected enough from tenants who behave badly or fail to pay their rent.

Courting disaster

“I also have no confidence that there is going to be additional investment in the court system after the Bill goes live including the fudning of enough judges and bailiffs, as the system faces a much higher workload once the Bill is fully implemented.”

Shamplina says several consequences of the Bill have yet to be identified, including that, following the end of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, it will become the norm to sell rental properties with tenants ‘in situ’.

“But my biggest message to landlords is that, if you’re not cut out to run you property as a business, which Labour’s renting reforms will force you to, then it’s time to consider using a letting agent,” he says.

Golden era

Shamplina adds that despite the challenges facing him and everyone else in the rental market, his enthusiasm remains the same.

He is also keen to point out that while landlords and letting agents have seen a ‘golden era’ including rising rents, house prices almost always going up and low interest rates, the current difficulties are just a ‘period of readjustment’ to a new political and economic reality.

“Letting agents will soon have to work harder and also better manage their cashflow because once fixed-term contracts are abolished, annual contract renewal fees cannot be relied as a fee generator,” he adds.

“Nevertheless the fundamentals of the market remain – the private rental sector is under supplied with homes while demand continues to rise.”

One change that agents may see is Shamplina back on TV – he tells The Neg he has several ‘irons in the fire’ and says as his parting shot – ‘what this space’.