Rich landlord who splashes out £1.5k a week on his girlfriend and lavish holidays and boasts his business is ‘success HQ’ forced to live in his tenants’ ‘disgusting’ rat-infested home for new TV show
Paul Preston and his girlfriend, who his calls Queen P, normally live a life of luxury
A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE landlord who splashes out £1,500 a week has been forced to see how the other half live - by spending a week in his tenants' 'disgusting' and rat-infested property.
Paul Preston, 40, lives in a luxury apartment with his personal trainer girlfriend Prea - who he calls 'Queen P' because of her expensive tastes.
He's mad a fortune by splitting up homes and renting them out by the room for maximum profit - and boasts his business is called Success HQ.
Speaking to BBC cameras for new show The Week The Landlords Moved In, Prea said: "I like the finer things in life.
"We have a fantastic lifestyle with lots of great holidays. Our outgoings per week to come about £1,500."
For the show, Paul has to swap lives with tenant Hayley, 29, who he has never met - despite the fact that she has lived in his Milton Keynes property for 18 months.
The property mogul, who earns a second income from mentoring, said: "I don’t think it’s essential that you know your tenants personally to run a good business."
Showing producers around the home, for which she pays £575-a-month, Hayley explained: "The walls are covered in mould. The windows aren’t very secure. It looks disgusting.
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"It looks dirty, it looks grubby. This is a makeshift washing line made out of a telephone wire.
"This house does not feel like a home. To be honest I don’t think my landlord considers us. Probably only sees it as if the room is vacant or full."
Totally oblivious to her issues, Paul told the cameras: "I would be surprised if there were problems in the house and there were things in the house that needed sorting and fixing."
While he lived in her home, Paul also worked on Hayley's budget of £100-a-week. He also met some of his other tenants, and heard their concerns.
Bumping into one of his clients in the kitchen, Paul was told: "The window is pretty rotten and it’s not very secure.
"We’ve got a bit of a rat problem. I think there’s a bit of a large family living in the shed."
In response, Paul said: "In respect of the furry family, it is something that happens in built up areas. So there’s obviously a balance of we can fix what we know about."
Paul fell into property management after losing his first business during the recession.
Forced to work as a cleaner for £6-an-hour, he decided to rent out rooms in his five-bedroom house.
He said: "That was the light bulb moment. I probably stumbled across the solution. Not because I thought I was a clever investor, but because I was desperate at the time."
After living in the property for a week, Paul started to understand that managing homes was about more than just money.
He said: "I think we’ve been looking at the functionality of these houses but we should be focusing on these properties and homes rather than just places to live in."
In the same episode, father-and-son landlords Marc and Peter swapped homes with pensioner Linda, 66.
Marc was reduced to tears by Linda's mouldy two-bed flat, saying: "I pride myself on being a good landlord, and this isn’t an impression I would like to paint.
"I don’t want anybody living in these conditions.
"It’s almost like a poverty trap. I never imagined it would be like this."
The Week The Landlord Moved In airs on Wednesday at 9pm on BBC1