| Photo courtesy of Samuel Leeds
In a UK rental market where landlords frequently hike rents to match soaring demand and inflation, property investor Samuel Leeds stands out for a different approach.
For tenants John and Sue in Bloxwich, West Midlands, the monthly rent has remained fixed at £525 for more than a decade, despite the property now commanding a market rent of around £1,150 per month.
Samuel recently revisited the house for the first time in nearly ten years. Greeting the long-term tenants warmly, “Hello, long time,” he wasn’t there to discuss rent reviews. Instead, he measured up for a full kitchen upgrade, letting John and Sue choose the design themselves.
The property, which the couple has called home for around 12 years, was one of Samuel’s early deals, secured in 2011 via a lease option agreement for £81,000. This creative strategy allowed him to control the asset with minimal upfront capital: leasing it initially, locking in a future purchase price, and benefiting from both rental income and any capital growth.
“I haven’t put the rent up,” Samuel explains. “I want to honour them for being there that long. The rent makes me enough money. The house makes me enough money. It’s an infinite return investment.”
With little initial capital tied up, the deal has delivered strong long-term returns through steady cash flow and appreciation, making rent increases unnecessary from a financial perspective.
Unlike much of Samuel’s current multimillion-pound portfolio, spanning HMOs, hotels, and social housing, this older property remains personally managed by his wife, Amanda Leeds. John and Sue are on first-name terms with the family; maintenance issues are handled quickly via a simple text to Amanda.
This personal touch has fostered rare continuity and trust in an industry often marked by high turnover. Samuel notes that chasing small rent increases can backfire: “Often, landlords think they are smart by raising the rent when they don’t need to; however, this can lead to void periods, which eat up your ROI. If a landlord has the ability, not increasing rent can be a good strategy.”
In an era of annual rent adjustments to offset costs, forgoing over £6,000 in extra annual income from this single property challenges the stereotype of the purely profit-driven landlord.
For Samuel, this Bloxwich house is more than an asset; it’s a reminder of his early days, when he built a portfolio through creative deals, before his education company and national profile grew. Loyalty, he argues, is an undervalued asset: stable, low-maintenance tenants who pay reliably and look after the home often outweigh marginal gains from higher rents.
In a tough market for both tenants and landlords, stories like this show that when returns are already strong, goodwill can be a smart investment too.
