Later the same day, BBC 1 aired its new docudrama Meet the Landlords. It introduced the nation to Jim Haliburton, a self-styled "HMO Daddy" who claimed his Birmingham portfolio of 'houses in multiple occupation' (large bedsits), let to benefit claimants, was worth £26m. We also met Anna, a harried first-time landlord who said she even considered selling her pet dog to pay the mortgage when her tenant, also on benefits, fell into arrears.
It is hard to say who came off worse, the landlords or the tenants, in the BBC's portrayal of the private rented sector, which could hardly have been more different from the parliamentary committee's. The only sympathetic character was a tough-loving lettings agent, Bev, who said she sometimes felt like a social worker. But the programme unambiguously reinforced the assumption that renting is for losers.