Notorious Hoogstraten says 'I've reformed, but others haven't'

One of Britain’s most notorious landlords, Nicholas van Hoogstraten, says his ‘bully days’ are over.

But Sussex-based van Hoogstraten, once known as a brutal slum landlord who terrorised tenants, says there are plenty of landlords around who are rogues.

Telling his local paper that his ‘bad old days’ are over, van Hoogstraten says he is no longer a rogue landlord and cannot remember the last time he had a problem with a tenant.

He says all his properties are now professionally managed, and that landlords who use letting agents can’t really ‘muck around’.

But he adds: “There are landlords in this city who will do anything to get rid of a problem.”

He claims bullying landlords in Brighton and Hove bully tenants by threatening them with eviction – and there’s not much tenants can do about it.

Brighton and Hove has the sixth largest private rented sector in the country, and van Hoogstraten blames the rise of buy-to-let landlords for problems in the sector.

The local paper story is here:

http://tinyurl.com/bqpwrr9