The Peterborough teenager who hit national headlines last year, when he became the country’s youngest landlord, has celebrated his anniversary … by buying and letting another property.

As experienced landlords fight through one of the toughest times for private sector legislation and new regulations, Luke Clarke marked his first year by expanding his portfolio.

Now he pays tribute to the Residential Landlords Association – the professional organisation that has helped to fast-track him into a new generation of modern landlords.

A year ago, after a £10,000 saving spree, Luke was poised to buy his first property – an £80,000 one-bed maisonette in the Peterborough suburb of Eastfield – as the clock ticked towards his 18th birthday.

With that done, and rented to a petrol station owner, Luke turned his attention to drawing down on that first property and releasing enough capital for the deposit on an £110,000 two-bedroom flat five miles out of the city, in Welbourne.

After five-weeks of redecoration that property is now tenanted to a teacher and Luke is keeping an eye on other ex-council properties that become available. “That’s the sort I’m looking for,” he says, “because I feel they represent the better quality, solid build, high-demand properties that offer better yields in upcoming areas.”

And Luke’s role in the family business - a property group that includes a large Belvoir lettings agency managing 500 properties, a specialist investment property resale agency and property maintenance business – has increased with new marketing responsibilities.

But Luke’s ambition to become a multiple property-owning landlord with a portfolio of at least 20 residential lettings by the time he’s 25 has been boosted by what he calls “undeniably the country’s top professional association for private sector landlords.”

Membership of the Residential Landlords Association was among the 18th birthday presents he received last August – “perhaps not every teenager’s choice,” he says, “but it’s helped me to stand on the shoulders of peers during a critical first 12 months.

“The Housing Act and new legislation, including tenancy deposits, has been a lot to take in but RLA literature, regular electronic newsletters, case studies and updates have been indispensable. And I want to take full advantage of their training courses, too, because it’s impossible to know too much in this industry.”

Luke is “not what people think of as a typical landlord,” says Lee Dribben, Chairman of the Residential Landlords Association - whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK. “But the sector is definitely moving in his direction with more young people and lady landlords changing the image and profile of our industry.

“One of the principal things we stand for is professionalism. Luke already had the determination to work evenings and weekends, including early morning 6am briefing sessions, so he knew a lot about property letting before he even left school. But if we can encourage the right newcomers to pick up speed and fast-track their experience then we can only welcome the new generation we are helping to create.”