When I first started out as a landlord 20 years ago, it was common practice to view a prospective tenant’s current rental property as part of the application process. The theory was that if they took care of their current property, they would take care of yours too.

In my opinion, a reference letter from the current landlord is not a good indicator – even today – of how good a tenant is or could be.

For legal reasons, references are now short and sweet: Has the tenant paid on time? Have there been any arrears? Will they get the deposit back in full? These are standard, objective questions that answer financial questions but don’t give you a real sense of who your tenant is as a person and how they are to deal with.

The problem is that for us as private landlords operating in this hostile environment, every day is a struggle, so we have to find our own means to get this business off the ground.

The talk of “hardship tests”, the impending abolition of Paragraph 21 and the many other new ideas that seem to be aimed at making renting a property unnecessarily difficult mean that I have had to come up with new hurdles myself to make renting a property even more difficult.

Any tenant wishing to apply for one of my properties must not only meet strict reference and affordability criteria (and demonstrate sufficient surplus to pay the ridiculously high gas and electricity bills, not to mention the horrendous council tax), but they must also have a working guarantor who owns the home and can afford the same.

The problem is of course even worse for the guarantor, who must not only prove that he can pay his own bills, but also have enough of his own funds to prove that he can pay for the potential tenant in the event of default.

In case you didn’t know, suretyship contracts do not end with the death of the tenant. The liability is total and never ends once a tenant is present.

But this talk about the application of “hardship tests” that must be carried out before a tenant is evicted (one of these tests is whether the tenant would become homeless) has got me wondering: how can I fight back?

One of my thoughts was: Should I speak to a lawyer about adding a clause to the surety agreement stating that the surety must guarantee alternative accommodation so that the tenant cannot claim to be homeless in the future?

I mean, it’s crazy.

I was thinking about how a commercial landlord would handle a case like this. I was told on Twitter that they already have a lot of lawyers on staff and are therefore prepared for the fall.

At this point I thought, I should probably throw in the towel. I really can’t afford to go through a legal battle over trying to evict a tenant and being prevented from doing so, and I have no desire to do so.

In case anyone has forgotten: I am a private landlord and not a housing association.

Despite everything, I don’t want to give up my business. And right now my tenants need me more than ever. So my second best idea was: I have to take tough action and be prepared.

This idea came about when I re-applied all of my long-term tenants to my new application rules as current tenants.

And then I stopped. I realized something terrible.

Most of my tenants from many years ago (we’re talking over 15 years here), who were well behaved, took care of the apartments, paid on time and, to be quite honest, were great customers, would not meet the requirements I have for new tenants today.

This realization, dear reader, made me very sad.

I sit here and wonder how many good people fall through the cracks because they cannot overcome the obstacles placed in their path.

Not only is there a shortage of rental properties, but the prices are also astronomically high and you have to be incredibly lucky to even have a chance of being one of the “chosen ones” (a successful tenant).

I know that as a landlord I have the opportunity to get around the rules, but as a landlord in this toxic environment, I can tell you that I cannot.

My only hope for the future is that Labour recognises that renters will continue to be victimised by continuing to antagonise landlords.

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