Families Facing Homelessness After Tycoon Issues Eviction Notices

Dozens of families are facing the risk of homelessness after receiving eviction notices from one of Britain’s biggest and most controversial buy-to-let tycoons. Fergus Wilson is giving 90 households in Ashford, Kent two months to get out after he decided to sell his 700 property portfolio in the county estimated to be worth more than £200m. He is expected to issue hundreds more evictions in the coming months before retiring to “take life easy”. Wilson started sending out the “no fault” eviction notices on Monday and has already been told by nine families with children under 10 that they have no chance of getting another property and could be left homeless. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/14/familes-facing-homelessness-after-tycoon-issues-eviction-notices

'Britain's Most Hated Landlord', 70, Finally Sells Up

'Britain's most hated landlord' is set to cause more misery - by evicting hundreds of tenants. Fergus Wilson, infamous for banning 'coloured' tenants because they smell like 'curry', hopes to sell his portfolio of 300 homes by the end of the year. The 70-year-old is planning to give tenants their marching orders next week. Last month his wife Judith Wilson, 68, was ordered to pay £25,000 in fines and legal costs for failing to supply hot water to a disabled tenant. The couple said they would appeal the decision and threatened to crash Ashford's property market by selling their empire. 32 homes have been sold independently and talks are underway to offload some stock in batches. Read more on the Mailonline.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6586921/Landlord-banned-coloured-tenants-set-evict-hundreds-more.html

As Migrants Fill His Properties, Fergus Wilson Puts Up Rents By 33%

Fergus Wilson, Britain’s most controversial buy-to-let landlord, is increasing rents across his 900 houses in Kent by up to 33% and filling his properties with eastern European migrants – while at the same time saying that Britain is heading for a “housing disaster”. Wilson told Guardian Money that when he let a three-bed mid-terrace home in Maidstone, Kent, last weekend, he managed to hike the rent from £900 a month to £1,200. Most of the demand, he says, is from migrants who are willing to pay higher rents than other local residents. He will now be seeking similar rent increases across his property empire. Read more on the Guardian website.

The Housing Review of the Year

As another action-packed and controversial year for housing draws to a close, Jules Birch looks back on the high, but mainly low, points of 2014. Here’s a few selected high/lowlights;

JANUARY - Fergus Wilson, the king of buy to let, gets into the Christmas spirit by sending eviction notices to his tenants on housing benefit.

MARCH - Single mothers in temporary accommodation in Oxford are offered new homes in Birmingham and Cardiff as the impact of the benefit cap is felt outside London.

APRIL - Lib Dem president Tim Farron says the party will “withdraw support” from the bedroom tax. A blind woman from Lincolnshire is evicted from her home of 30 years over £210 of arrears and ends up sleeping rough in a field.

JULY - By happy coincidence, the DWP chooses the day of the Cabinet reshuffle to publish the much-delayed independent interim evaluation of ‘the removal of the spare room subsidy’. Among the findings: 57% of bedroom tax victims have cut back on household essentials; a third borrowed money to pay the shortfall; and 4.5% had managed to downsize. Read more on 24housing.

Millionaire Landlords Begin Evicting Large Families

Britain’s most controversial landlords, Fergus and Judith Wilson, whose property empire extends to nearly 1,000 homes in Kent, have begun evicting families with more than two children, banned tenants on zero-hours contracts and thrown out extended families where the grandmother comes to stay. Last January, the Wilsons sparked a national outcry after it was revealed they were evicting anyone on housing benefit. They sent the eviction notices to 200 tenants, saying they preferred eastern European migrants who defaulted much less frequently than single mums on welfare. But, in a bizarre twist, the Wilsons have begun evicting many of their eastern European tenants – because they are having too many children. “I have taken the decision to evict all families with more than two children and also three-generation households,” said Fergus Wilson in a statement sent to the Guardian. Read more on the Guardian website.