Britain's biggest landlord bans 'coloured people'

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Britain's biggest landlord bans 'coloured people' because of 'the curry smell'

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/29/britains-biggest-landlord-bans-coloured-people-curry-smell/

In an email to a letting agent acting on his behalf Mr Wilson, who runs a property empire in Kent, said: “No coloured people because of the curry smell at the end of the tenancy.”

When contacted by The Sun Mr Wilson defended his comments, saying : “To be honest, we’re getting overloaded with coloured people. It is a problem with certain types of coloured people — those who consume curry — it sticks to the carpet.

It's like everything is returning to the 1950s.

That just shouldn't be allowed. I hope the agents refuse his business and he's arrested under the hate crimes act.

From that article:

"Earlier this year Mr Wilson, 69, made headlines after saying he would no longer accept victims of domestic violence as tenants because jealous or angry partners typically cause damage by kicking down front doors and punching holes in the interior.

"Single parents, workers on low incomes, families with children, pet owners, smokers and single adults are also among those who Mr Wilson has barred from his properties."

Lineys thanks for the clarity on this.
Certainly puts things in context.

Not many people left then to rent his properties after that list .... surely the market he's hoping to attract already have mortgages because the people on his list are the most likely to be the ones renting ..

Are landlords even allowed to discriminate? I know they are entitled to vet potential tenants, but surely this isn't legal?!

If I had the money, time, expertise and inclination (so, never!) my big business idea is to set up a sort of TripAdvisor type website for tenants to review landlords, as I think it's outrageous that landlords can run background checks on tenants, yet tenants go into a tenancy with absolutely no idea about the landlord to whom they are going to pay thousands of pounds and entrust with providing habitable accommodation.

I just read this and thought "cant believe this is real!". Off topic but am i right in thinking its ok for landlords/ ladies to say "no renters on housing benefits"?

Not sure there's many people left for him to rent to! Discriminatory comments aside As a private landlord though surely he can pick and choose who he as as tenants?

So he'll only rent to affluent white couples without children.

It's illegal to discriminate against people because of their ethnicity, but not the rest of the list.

Hope he's prosecuted.

Kentonline

This disgusting, self-important little bigot also actually believed he'd be perfect for the role of Kent's Police and Crime Commissioner. Truly.

Would be laughable, were it not so concerning for the implications...

The sad truth is that I can guarantee he'd have no hesitation in renting to me, a non-"coloured" person, yet someone who regularly cooks with onions/ garlic/ strong spices etc.

I have heard from my Indian boss that it is true that the smell of Indian cookery is indeed hard to remove from a house. She said it isn't really the curries but it's the frying. The oil gets into the air and sticks to everything.
And here is a link which seems to have an Indian writer and commenters:
saumyachopra.info/tips-and-tricks/indian-food-smell-problem/

And?

If a landlord decides they need to redecorate or replace carpets at the end of a tenancy due to damage by a tenant, they can apply to deduct that from the deposit.

They don't get to define a whole group they won't let to "in case of cooking" on the basis of race.

Linking to sites about Indian food doesn't change that.

Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission:
"We will investigate and will be asking Mr Wilson to explain his actions. Unless we are satisfied that he will not break the law in the future we will take legal action".

How much is a deposit? A month's rent?

Are you actually sticking up for him penelope? Dear fucking god!

Well, not for him, but what if you were a small investor with just one property and couldn't rent it afterwards without significant financial outlay? I've heard it can be an issue.
I don't like that landlord but the cooking could constitute a sort of damage, which a deposit couldn't cover. I don't know what the answer is.

The answer is to no discriminate against people on the basis of their skin colour because it is wrong and against the law.

When I moved in to my current flat, the kitchen smelled of pork. The people who lived here before were white and I presume they ate a lot of fry ups. It took a few weeks and a couple of good cleans to get the smell out. It's not only Asian people who cook smelly food.

There are quite a few threads online about this, often on property forums by landlords. It's definitely an issue.
Those landlords also seem to say that Indians make good tenants and that they always pay the rent.
I read that a few weeks having the house empty, while you redecorate to get rid of the cooking smell, can be worth it over the long term.

Penelope the very first words of the OP's post were 'Britian's biggest landlord' - your -piss weak defence of the poor racist soul with one property very clearly doesn't apply here

What 'poor racist soul'?
I didn't say there was a small investor not renting to Asian people. I just said it can cost them a lot of money; be a lot of money for a small investor to bear.
Of course this landlord can afford vacancies, but should it be the tenant's responsibility to sort it out, whether it's Indian cooking or the smell of pork as in the post above? I think it should be. The same as blutak marks on walls, spills on carpet, etc..

We rented a house, where the previous owners has cooked a lot of curries. It was an absolute nightmare of a smell to remove.

This reminds me of lettings ad in an Australian paper about 30 years ago. It clearly said "No Asians".

So, a television journalist went to see the chap. He quizzed him about the ad. The potential landlord was somewhat confused. If an Asian person applied to to rent the property, and had all the right references, he would be happy to let it to them.

The journalist was now confused. He showed the landlord the ad. The landlord laughed. He had dictated the ad over the phone. He had wanted it to say "No Agents". He wanted to let the property privately, rather than through a lettings agent.

This kind of racism was unacceptable in Australia, 30-odd years ago. What does that say about those trying to justify it in the UK, today?

He's a jerk and why anyone rents from him I don't know. Even once you leave, even if the property is left immaculate, he will take you to court to pay for "damage" (this happened to a friend of mine who rented from him, left and had her professional painter and decorator uncle to reprint but fergus said it wasn't a good enough job and took her to court to pay for another decorator)
He does like to sue his tenants. And evict them.
here
here
here
And then he assaults his estate agents
here

I'm sure "biggest landlord" is the clue as to why people rent from him.

It's not OK to behave like this if you only own one property, but he actually controls a fair chunk of the housing market.

True.