We own 35 homes worth £10,000,000 — landlords are given a bad rap

When married couple Katie and Danny Bloomfield collected the keys to their very first investment property in October 2017, they knew they wanted to start small.

Their first buy-to-let was bought to be a quick way to create ‘long-term financial security.’

Fast forward to 2025, and Katie and Danny exclusively make a living out of being career landlords, with a vast empire spanning 35 homes.

Altogether, their portfolio amounts to just over £10 million in value – a combination of single buy-to-lets and HMOs, stretching from their hometown, Ipswich, up to Lanarkshire.

But while property investment might provide a lucrative business opportunity for some, it’s certainly a point of contention.

Lack of affordable housing

With the cost of the average property skyrocketing out of the grasp of affordability, many young people have found themselves locked out of homeownership.

For those without the help of generational wealth, it’s a lifetime membership of Generation Rent instead. In London alone, 30.1% of properties are now comprised of private rentals – the highest percentage since 1971.

Those struggling to afford private rents don’t always have the option of accessing council housing, either, as the UK’s council housing stock has slowly been depleting over the last 70 years.

In 2024, a study from Shelter found that while more than 200,000 social rent homes were built in England in the mid-1950s, by 2023 to 2024, the number of homes built had declined to just 10,000.

Existing housing stock has also been sold off through the controversial Right To Buy policy, which allows council tenants to buy their own homes at a discounted rate.

Initially introduced in 1980 by Thatcher’s government, the policy is still in place across England, and while it’s allowed many a coveted spot on the property ladder, it also meant that more and more council houses have slowly been transferred into private hands.

Statistics from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) found that more than four in 10 council homes sold under Right To Buy are now owned by private landlords.

‘We’re entitled to make a living’

These issues have combined to create a divide between homeowners and those who feel like they’ll be stuck renting forever, and the sheer number of homes Katie and Danny own may raise eyebrows. However, they believe they’re entitled to make a living out of the property world.

’Owning property is no different to anyone else choosing a business in another sector. We provide homes, and that comes with responsibility as well as opportunity,’ 43-year-old Danny, an ex-professional footballer for Norwich and Bournemouth, tells Metro.

In their experience, managing a large property portfolio is far from a ’passive’ job. Katie, who previously worked in the hotel industry, adds that while they employ people to help with the logistics, it still takes up a ’huge’ amount of their ’time, money and energy.’

’Both of us are almost full-time in our property business, because it matters to us that the homes are high-quality and well looked after,’ 42-year-old Katie explains.

The couple believe that they have a fundamental role to play in providing housing, buying up and renovating neglected buildings. In Katie’s words, they’re ’creating homes’ when ’there are so many uninhabited ones at the moment in the UK.’

‘Landlords often get painted with a bad brush – the narrative is usually about greed or pushing rents unfairly. We see it very differently,’ she shares.

Katie does acknowledge that some tenants will have experienced poor treatment at the hands of landlords, but maintains that, like every industry, there are ‘good people and bad people.‘

‘Property is no different. But the landlords we surround ourselves with are professional, care deeply about doing things well, and are committed to creating a positive impact,‘ she explains.

‘We take on properties that need love, renovate them to a high standard and provide safe, quality homes. Responsible landlords can actually add huge value to communities.’

Eye-watering rents

A 2025 study from Dutton Gregory Solicitors found that, over the last year, 62% of tenants have experienced rent increases of more than 20%.

Likewise, rents for new lets have gone up by 24% in the last three years – and those on both low and middle incomes are being squeezed, with a further 42% saying that their landlord raised their rent ‘moderately’ and 38% ‘significantly.’

Katie and Danny determine their rates based on the market, rather than what they’d ’like them to be.’

Danny explains: ’We keep them fair, but we also have to keep the business viable. The reality is that with the government increasing taxes and mortgages rising, landlords are being squeezed.

’As in any industry, when costs go up, they get passed down. That’s just how economics works. But we’re very conscious of staying fair.’

Katie and Danny insist they generally have a ‘very positive’ relationship with many of their tenants, despite outsourcing the bulk of the day-to-day admin to managing agents.

‘We care about making sure people are looked after. Like any landlord, we’ve had the odd late payment or damage, but the positives far outweigh the negatives,’ Katie adds.

’We like to see the good in people, and we’ve given tenants second chances, sometimes way beyond what the data or our instincts told us. In some cases, that’s cost us tens of thousands in arrears. We’ve even had homes trashed, which is heartbreaking after the effort and money that goes into them.

‘But many of our tenants stay for years, treat the homes like their own, and some have even sent thank-you notes about how much they love what we’ve done with the renovations.’

Learning valuable lessons

For Katie and Danny, being financially secure is crucial. Together, the couple have six children, five from their previous marriages and another baby born in 2020. And, they’re keen to teach their kids how to handle money.

‘We’re very open with our children about all things finances because we didn’t grow up [like that],’ Danny says, explaining that details like his parents’ salaries, were not divulged.

While Danny doesn’t think this was ‘wrong,’ he and Katie are doing things differently.

‘We know that as soon as our children turn a certain age, they’ll get letters in the post with people offering them all sorts of loans and availability to cash. And if they’re not prepared for that, then they’re going to get themselves into some bother,’ he says.

So, they’re educating their children as early as possible about multiple streams of income and starting businesses.

And, the pair say that they vehemently disagree with the ‘mindsets around rich people not being very nice.’

‘We genuinely think that if somebody’s nice, then they’re going to be nice with money. And if they’re an a***hole, then they’re going to be like that when they’ve got it,’ Katie says.

Soon, their portfolio will reach 41, as they’ve currently got six properties in the legal process of going through.

‘There are a lot of phrases around money [like] that it doesn’t grow on trees. We believe that you can just make more money,’ Katie says.

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