Britain’s highest-profile private landlord, Fergus Wilson, is understood to be putting all of his properties on the sales market today.
The portfolio, in and around Ashford, Kent, is thought to consist of 300 homes.
It is known that Wilson has been giving notice to some tenants.
They include one who asked Wilson to write to Kent Police after the tenant’s application for a firearms and shotgun licence, and the need for a gun cabinet in the rental property.
An indignant Wilson wrote to the police, sharing his letter with media, saying that his own licences had not been renewed.
In his letter he said: “Kent Police has taken the view that I am not a person who should hold a firearm/shotgun licence.
“Consequently it is totally inappropriate that Kent Police should ask me to give my permission relating to firearms and shotguns.
“[Tenant’s name] is an ideal tenant with no arrears of rent. He has a young baby of about one year. I have given him a Section 21 notice to end his tenancy as I am selling the house.”
We have asked Wilson, who has long threatened to get rid of his entire portfolio, to clarify how many properties he is putting on the market.
Comments (9)
If he puts 300 properties on the market in one go, with the market as it is, he will have an awful lot of houses standing empty on which he will have to 100% Council Tax plus mortgages, insurance etc.
Of those Landlords of ours who have decided to sell in the last few months several have put their properties back with us to re-let as they are unable to find buyers.
Doesn’t seem to be a particularly sound decision financially.
The Witch-hunt is against ALL landlords in the Private sector, and we should all come and band together over it.
Its just that because of Fergus Wilson’s property portfolio size, he’s been ( Unfairly, singled-out Targeted – do you think that’s fair either ? )
All businesses ( and People ) will make mistakes, you’ve got to take an overall – majority view of a person and his portfolio / tenants.
Its a wonder Mr Wilson hasn’t published the average time his tenants remain and actually send them a very short exit survey when they leave, about their satisfaction with his property / management of it.
I imagine the result would be an over-whelming majority of satisfaction, with a few isolated stories ( that all landlords will have ) of Rogue tenants, who guess what, aren’t happy he’s taken them to task – surprise, surprise.
The real disgrace in this country is the lack of civil justice, the way people can defraud and not pay their lawful debts, without ( effective ) consequence.
I agree with this, I read a few articles a while ago that he was an effective landlord and had been quite helpful to tenants in the past. I also think the majority of his tenants will be longstanding and also satisfied with standard of Wilson’s property and landlord tenant interaction. I also wholeheartedly agree with the comment on rogue tenants who simply decide they are NOT paying any more rent and sit it out the legal eviction process, meanwhile the landlord pays the mortgage…. end result, tenant is evicted and simply disappears into the the ether… it’s way too easy. We now advocate as a company all rogue tenants are legally pursued for losses.
Lots of tax for the government to spend on the tenants who will then be in temproary accommodation
Dave A
Who is he again?
I wouldn’t take much notice. He says he’s selling up every week, doesn’t he?
I can never understand the coverage Mr. Wilson gets; it was Mrs. Wilson who was the smart one in that business. From Mrs. Wilson a lot of people can learn a lot about being a portfolio landlord. A lot of people can learn a lot from Mr. Wilson too, he is a perfect example of how not to be.
Mrs. and Mr. Wilson have missed an opportunity to go into the history books being remembered for doing something special for themselves and their country. On her own, without the handicap of Fergus’s ego, arrogance, mouth and opinions, I’m fairly certain Mrs. Wilson would have achieved far greater things than the great things she has achieved.
It is a sign of the way they are that they’re thinking of selling up, each can have a wonderfully wide headstone sporting a truly impressive bank balance, Yay! When they’re dead Mrs Wilson will be respected for the right reasons, Fergus will be remembered but not in a good way.
Mr Wilson provided the initial funding through his racing pigeons?
One of a number of “hobby/businesss” sectors where HMRC have never got to grips with the staggering amount of cash that flows through it.
He has already significantly reduced the size of the portfolio at least once. Their back story inspired many wannabe landlords where this couple slowly but steadily built an enormous portfolio, showing what prudent management and gearing could achieve taking them away from teaching if my memory serves me correctly. People were shocked when the papers blew their cover as one of the country’s wealthiest landlords from nothing and of course he was always good for a headline.
This whole shotgun thing is a distraction and a good headline and I’m certain the real reason for the question was so the police could tick a box and also they would have realized this was a tenanted property and would need close supervision, so that the licence didn’t fall into bad hands in the future if there was a tenancy change and also to check landlords permission was given for a material change to the property. Meanwhile it has given air for the outraged citizen of Kent and a good headline.