Britain's worst landlord?

[postiepostie]

Just watched panorama about Fergus Wilson and apart from him persuing money from a family that clearly can't afford it (and clearly won't benefit him) I don't see why he is wrong to want to sell his properties and retire.

It's sad for the families that have to move but isn't that one of the risks that comes with renting?

AIBU to think that he should be allowed to just sell up using the correct legal processes as and when he likes?

gamerchick - £16,000 more than anyone else was prepared to pay otherwise they’d own it not him 🙄

He's a horrid person, through and through. And his ridiculous wife.

He has made racist comments regularly in the past, chooses not to allow 'certain people' to rent his property, including 'battered women' or single mothers.

He's a twat. Should never have been allowed to own so many properties in the first place.

There needs to be a ring fenced social housing stock that cannot be sold off for those on low incomes run by local councils and increased year on year
Then private LL should be left to run their businesses like any other, abiding by the rules and regulations but without the vitriol so often directed at them

GAMERCHICK No no, this isn't social housings fault. Let's just move that spotlight back onto private landlords which is what this thread is about. Just for a change.

I'm still liking the idea of new taxes on private landlords. Starting with those rents they charge.

Gamer...what do you think will happen to rents as a result of yet more taxation?

So many people want private LL who run a business, to be social LL

So many LL have made money from tenants claiming social money for housing, but then don’t want to actual give tenants a habitable home

Gamer...what do you think will happen to rents as a result of yet more taxation?

Ooo no, I want a cap as well. Say at about 800 quid maximim and that's being generous.

In my town landlord are now finding it harder to rent, there is a glut of 150 two bed flats for renting. People can’t afford to purchase but can’t afford to rent either at the prices being asked. Recently some landlords are reducing there rents to avoid having an empty property and paying 100% council tax

Do you want a cap on what bread can be sold for too, what a surgeon can earn ? Sounds like the communists state we all fought to prevent

Actually, some basic things are subsidised, the not entirely necessary petrol for one so not sure why a place to live should be different.

It would also save the government money as there wouldn't be such a high housing benefit bill.

he didn’t have to evict people to sell the houses, he could have tried selling with tenants in situ. A friend’s landlord did that and it meant her family didn’t have to move, so it can be done.

I don’t care if evicting to sell is legal, it’s heartless (I’ve been through it) and causes unnecessary stress. If you have kids it’s so much worse- homelessness with kids is shit, and when you eventually get somewhere odds are it’s far from your previous house which means new schools, more stress etc. For those that’s say it’s part of renting implying that it is a ”hoice” as compared to buying, well it’s not fair on those that have to rent as they cant afford to buy. Everyone needs a secure home, nobody needs a property empire. The laws should be changed so that section 21’s are banned and landlords can’t evict to sell. If you want to buy to rent then it should be with the proviso that this is someone’s home and they can’t be evicted if they’ve done nothing wrong.

He’s an absolute cunt and so is his wife. He is suing that family for £30,000, that’s literally peanuts for him but for the family it will wreck them. And he’s only doing it out of spite. He was only able to buy up so much housing because he accumulated wealth from housing, he is using rents to pay mortgages that the tenants can’t afford because the likes of him have taken so much housing for themselves. He is a bully. I hope karma comes for him in his retirement.

he didn’t have to evict people to sell the houses, he could have tried selling with tenants in situ. A friend’s landlord did that and it meant her family didn’t have to move, so it can be done.

Exactly. I suspect he’s actually enjoying kicking the families out. He’s a bully.

There used to be many more laws on tenants being able to keep their homes, of course it wasn’t in landlords interests financially and slowly they have been deminished

Agree that there should be a cap in the amount of houses a landlord can own. Also agree this particular landlord is a massive twat. And his wife is no better.

MM that would be hard law to pass... can’t see the queen selling up any of her properties

The problem is that his business model is to identify and avoid 'products' that won't maximise his profits.

So Indian people, benefits, complaints etc etc are all identified as bad products.

All businesses have similar lists, I do and I avoid the problems I have identified 100%.

That he is a landlord and had such a huge portfolio meant that his product decisions affected many people.

He isn't a pleasant man, he skirts all sorts of laws and the chasing of to that money plus costs is fucking awful, but... that is how he has always protected his business.

I am not sure I can wholly demonise him, but it is a close call.

*Ooo no, I want a cap as well. Say at about 800 quid maximim and that's being generous."

I think you may not understand the whole of the rental market.

Yes, there is an issue with the lack of social housing. Yes some landlords and agents are Shylocks

But Draconian restrictions won't make renting any easier. As Scotland showed, there is only one end result of the changes now going through in England and Wales... and that wasn't rent reduction

He is local to me.
He is a twat. A mean, racist, sexist twat.
However- as a landlord he’s perfectly entitled to sel his properties I can’t get excited about that.
I was looking at a property for sale (didn’t know it was on e of his) estate agent said don’t touch with barge pole as maintenance has been zero over the last 10+ years and half the tennents are growing canibis in the roof.
I have no idea if that’s true but his reputation locally is appalling.

Do you want a cap on what bread can be sold for too, what a surgeon can earn ? Sounds like the communists state we all fought to prevent

If enough people are reduced to desperation by overtly vicious rich wankers, it'll become far more attractive. At the fringes of Brexit, in opposition to the race and nation thugs, is a small but growing view that Brexit is necessary to smash the economy and allow an environment in which the rich would be neutralised.

The rich will grow richer from Brexit, and the gap between rich and poor will grow wider not smaller

He owns hundreds and hundreds of houses in my home town. He is despised, often comes up on local social media/news pages.
One housing estate alone has hundreds of his tenants. Only one letting agent in the town will actually work with him, so I’ve heard. My younger colleagues at work all make a point of asking if any potential place they are looking to rent is owned by him too.

He obviously isn't the most tenant friendly of landlords, but it's a bit harsh to call him the UK's worst. His houses seem well maintained. Unlike those on the Kyle Files this evening. The worst was owned by a housing association called Paradigm. Damp, water coming up through the floor The tenant and her 4 dc sleeping in one room on the floor. She was in tears and the dc were asking why they didn't have a proper home.