Jonathan Clarke manages almost fifty residential rental properties which he owns with his family and just like many other hands-on landlords his 'patch' is within a half an hour drive from his home. He also now looks after another twenty properties on behalf of an investor-client group.

I ask Jonathan how and why he started investing in property.

"The advent of buy to let mortgages in 1996 along with my view that property values would rise were the triggers," he replies. "Rental returns locally around Milton Keynes were very strong which convinced me to purchase our first rental property in 1999. Like many other novice property investors I initially released some equity from our home and used this to buy a flat at £44,000 for cash which was quickly rented out.

"At the time I was working as a Police Officer, but a painful back injury led to me pretty much being flat on my back for three months and it meant that I had a fair bit of time to reflect on various things, including my pension arrangements and possible job insecurity.        

"I had always felt that property was a good option to create wealth and in hindsight I should have started earlier as I had thought about investing in the mid 1980's.

"Although my day job required having good interpersonal skills, I had no real idea about being a landlord when I started out; so I just went along to a few events and read various books, visited some local agents and then learned from my own experiences, both good and bad.

"When I met my first prospective tenant, I had no real idea what to expect but it turned out fine. The first rental property was a 100-year-old small cottage and its selling point for me was its fireplace, but at that time I was thinking as an owner occupier and not as a landlord."