In a nutshell, here's his brief guide to why buy-to-let still offers the opportunity to make you a large amount of money… if you understand how buy-to-let really works.

1. Rents are rising.
   
   Recent research by the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has shown that rents have increased by four per cent for houses, and two per cent for flats, between December and February this year. And Jeremy Leaf, of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, believes that they will continue to rise, due to the fact that there are fewer new rental properties coming on the market: "It's a double whammy for first-time buyers, who now can't get mortgages."
   
   The lender Paragon has also revealed that rents have risen by 15 per cent in a year on average, although rents for flats have fallen by 1.6 per cent in the past year due to there being an oversupply of new-builds.
   
   Having said that, terraced houses have increased by a whopping 23.6 per cent, semi-detached properties by 22.3 per cent, and detached houses by 29.1 per cent.
   
   The areas of the country where rents have increased the most have been the North West, the South West and East Anglia. Regions which haven't done so well are the South East, Wales and the North.
   
   As long as you do your research and get the right buy-to-let property in the right buy-to-let area, rental income shouldn't be a problem. Lawpack’s bestselling book, 'Buy-to-Let Bible', details all of the buy-to-let property hotspots for 2008.
   
   
   
2. Borrowing costs are dropping.
   
   The Bank of England, in trying to avert a recession, has cut interest rates three times since December and it looks likely that it's going to try to keep the rate as low as possible for a while to come.
   
   While rates are reducing, inflation is soaring. The Bank of England's Chief Economist, Charles Bean, predicted last month that "Inflation is likely to exceed three per cent again during the second half of this year" and he suggested that inflation may match the highest level in a decade this year.
   
   This is a win-win scenario for buy-to-let landlords. Borrowing gets cheaper and your debt balance is devalued due to inflation running above the Bank of England's targets.
   
   
   
3. Property prices are falling slightly, so cheaper buy-to-let deals are available.
   
   Research by Assetz, the property investment group, has shown that house prices have actually risen since January 2008 – a rise of 0.1 per cent.
   
   The Chief Executive of Assetz, Stuart Law, said: "House prices are flatlining - not falling with any significance, and the house price indices do not indicate any form of house price crash. The next direction in prices, up or down, will depend on how quickly the mortgage market responds to the Bank of England's recent intervention.
   
   "It will take a few months to stabilise, but I expect a return to a risk-averse form of lending normality around September, by which time the mortgage market will have adjusted to the recent cash injection and become considerably more liquid."
   
   So, things aren’t so bad for buy-to=let landlords after all!
   
   
   
4. The availability of buy-to-let mortgages is still strong.
   
   There are various 85 per cent loan to value mortgages still on the market. These include Bristol & West, its subsidiary Giraffe, and the Post Office.

So, ignore the doom merchants. If you're a buy-to-let landlord with a current portfolio, you'll start to see increased profits due to borrowing costs falling and rents rising.

Buy-to-let property is still a very attractive investment proposition. Once you take off the mortgage cost of a cheap buy-to-let property from the newly inflated rents, your buy-to-let profit margins are greater than what they would have been 12 months ago.

More expert tips on how to get the right buy-to-let deals and achieve a profitable buy-to-let yield, even in a market that's in a possible slump, can be found in Ajay's two buy-to-let books, "The Buy-to-Let Bible" and "The Seven Pillars of Buy-to-Let Wisdom". In these bestselling buy-to-let guides, he outlines his secrets to buy-to-let success and shows how you, too, can turn a deposit of £500 into a buy-to-let property portfolio worth over £13 million.

Further information
Homes downturn means leap in letting
Resilient buy-to-let may soften housing downturn
Buy-to-let landlords: how to make a profit from the credit crunch
Top ten tips to profitable property
How do I go about increasing the rent on my property?
Have you given a Tenancy Deposit Protection Form to your tenant?
Buy Ajay's guide, 'Buy-to-Let Bible'
Buy Ajay's guide, 'The Seven Pillars of Buy-to-Let Wisdom'
Get all your tenancy agreements with Lawpack's 'Residential Lettings Kit'
Learn all about your legal responsibilities as a landlord with Lawpack's guide 'The Complete Guide to Residential Letting'