This 10-part series - filmed before the pandemic - follows letting agents, eviction specialists and lawyers helping landlords chase rent arrears and get properties back.
It also looks at council enforcement officers clamping down on slum landlords taking advantage of vulnerable tenants.
The first episode features a 13-hour siege by squatters, a guarantor stitched up by his own son, and a landlord who calls in eviction expert Paul Shamplina from Landlord Action because his tenant owes £16,000 rent.
This landlod is Allen Summerskill who bought his flat in Croydon over 15 years ago.
Just four months into the most recent tenancy, his tenant stopped paying rent. Despite serving a Section 8 notice, the tenant refused to move, leaving Summerskill to call in the bailiffs.
As shown in episode one, the tenant tries to stall by going back to court on the day of the eviction but the judge decides in Sumerskill’s favour. With Shamplina’s help, the landlord finally gains possession but is in for a shock once he gets through the front door.
He says: “I’ve been a landlord for quite some time and on this particular occasion I went against my better judgement. The tenant said she did not get on with her previous landlord and I should have pursued for a reference but didn’t - it was a mistake.
“I am just so grateful to Paul and his team for everything they did. Had Paul not suggested we go back to the court that day, the eviction may not have gone ahead when it did. Shortly after, the pandemic hit, and I would now be faced with a further 18 months without rent and without my property. With the current debt and damage to the property, I’m already out of pocket by £20,000.”
Shamplina says about the new series: “The stories we have featured will really resonate with a lot of landlords – there are some shocking cases. It is not just troublesome tenants, but also some rogue letting agents too, and we really want to keep banging the drum about the necessity for landlords to carry out thorough due diligence at all stages of the lettings process.
“Obviously Covid-19 has changed the landscape of evictions at present, but the mistakes are nearly always made at the start of, or even before, the tenancy.”
Watch Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords on Channel 5 tonight at 8pm.
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I think in the past most of us have gone against our better judgement at times and let the wrong person into our properties, it's a learning curve , and often a hard one at that, non of us can now afford to make that mistake now , if the applicant doesn't feel right, for whatever reason, direct them to the local council housing department.
Sure, I have, and it was disastrous. And I vowed it will only ever be that one.
Never again will those types of people come over the threshold of ANY of my properties.
NEVER!!!!!!!!
We have also gone against our better judgement in the past to get stung!
This new series is still pre pandemic
I wonder what these series are going to be like in the future?
I mean, let's be honest. The issue isn't tenants. It's landlords and letting agents not carrying out their due diligence and renting to people they don't trust.
Slum/scum landlords are the main issue that needs to be resolved. They damage trust in the whole system and they're eye-wateringly common, especially in city centres.
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