The king and queen of buy-to-let, will they take Ashford in Kent with them as they fall?

[Upwind]

from today's Guardian:
"Judith and Fergus Wilson used cheap buy-to-let finance to snap up hundreds of homes, mostly around Ashford in Kent."

• They own more than 900 houses
• They will have single handedly pushed up the prices families paid for homes around Ashford
• They have started to sell now into a falling market and at realistic valuations, they can't be far from negative equity.
• As they specialise in small family homes, their selling off of stock mean that their tenants lose their homes
• If the Wilsons lose their big gamble, their tenants will suddenly be made homeless en-masse due to reposession, and through no fault of their own
• This big sell off will push down prices in the area
• From the article above they seem oblivious to the immorality of their own actions

[Rose100]

Wasn't there was some unofficial link between John Prescott and his brownfield, build in back gardens scheme and his son owning some kind of property development business to do with brownfield sites?

Also the Blairs have a few buy to lets don't they? Not that I'm against small portfolios, you can't stop it all. But I'm totally against unlimited endless ownership. At one point, I seriously wondered if the Wilson's aimed to buy the whole of Kent. There would have been nothing to stop them in theory.

[TwoIfBySea]

If she does Fio then better remind her to take photos of the place before she moves out. According to the programme rather than take it to court so the people could defend themselves the Wilsons threw it straight to the debt collectors. I really need to have a hunt and see if I can find out which one it was...

[TwoIfBySea]

Okay, it was on Watchdog and it isn't available on iPlayer but I googled it to see if anyone had a copy but on an investor site I found this and then I also found this.

So it would seem their pure greed is what drives them as opposed to any business ambition.

[Upwind]

Was THIS the watchdog episode you saw Twoifbysea?

Fio, your friend should probably get some advice from Shelter/CAB before moving out if she rents from the Wilsons.

[TwoIfBySea]

Yes, well done Upwind, I kept getting redirected to the main site!

It stuck in my mind because of the fuss made over the picture hooks. Tiny little picture hooks. I think that was the one who had photographic proof of the state of the house.

[Lizzylou]

There are a fair few repossessions going through the Estate Agents where I work on a Saturday. They are being snapped up by Buy to let investors. A few of the repos were owned by buy to let investors who were heavily mortgaged and then couldn't afford the higher rates. I'm learning that min 50% cash/rest mortgage is the safest way to invest in property (if not v long term), just a pity I have bugger all capital.
We also have a rival (independent) Estate Agent's repossessed family home on the market. It is scary stuff.

[harman]

Message withdrawn

[Upwind]

That is interesting Harman. So, if they have gambled a bit too far many of those affected by any reposessions will be on benefits...

What an utterly disastrous policy on social housing

[swedishmum]

Have seen him a few times in local DIY shops. Always looks miserable and wears trousers too short. They seem totally unlikeable to me. I live just outside Ashford and their names aren't written in gold. There are a couple more very major landlords round here - as far as I understand they aren't planning to sell right now. In fact, there are many many people I know of round here who own 10 plus homes. Not me I must add before any mud flings my way.........

Much as I hope the recession misses most hard working nice people, I'd love to see greedy miserable people like them suffer. And I'm a nice person....

[Upwind]

Swedishmum - somehow it makes me even more to think they might not be able to enjoy their ill gotten gains!

I wonder will they really get their comeuppance - they used to say that if you owe the bank £100k you have a problem, but if you owe them £100,000k the bank has a problem. I guess the Wilsons and scum like them will be given favourable terms using taxpayers bailout money.

[Leoloopydoo]

I've read the article but not the whole discussion here and I am sure I am going against the general opinion, but..... As far as I can see the Wilsons haven't done anything illegal and there are many more people doing much worse things than them. They saw an opportunity and made the most of it and have come out of it rich - there are many people who have tried to do the same thing but have failed. The Wilsons are no better or worse than those people but are resented for the fact that they got rich from it.
I don't think they plan to dump a load of houses on the market and bring the house prices down, that wouldn't benefit them, they want the house prices to stay high so they can sell for as much profit as possible.

There is nothing in the article to suggest that they can't pay their loans and that people will be turfed out of their houses.

I do however think that the laws protecting tennants in the UK are really bad and that is the reason that everyone wants to buy and not rent and now have mortgages that they can't pay.

[Freckle]

You can get far more money for an empty property than for one with a sitting tenant. So I suspect that a fair few tenants will be receiving notices to quit (all done legally of course), so that their homes can be sold. Then of course they will have to see whether they can get their deposits back.

[swedishmum]

Will check the local weekly tomorrow and report any news....
Leoloopydoo, it's not that I resent them, it's the way they treat people. They come across as unpleasant. He was done recently for using a mobile while driving. Tried to get off by saying he was holding a drinks can up to his ear or some such twaddle. I remember Dominic Littlewood taking a great dislike to them on that Property MIllions programme. They have swayed the market - a real lack of properties for 1st time buyers in Ashford. Trying to rip people off and not return deposits for ludicrous reasons.....