Landlord Fergus Wilson has rejected his label as the ‘most hated landlord’ in Britain and insists his policy of vetting tenants has always been fair.
The colourful character, who is in the process of selling the remainder of his once extensive portfolio – once thought to be nearly 1,000 properties around Kent - has been vilified on some online forums and in newspapers during the last decade for his outspoken views but says ensuring tenants can pay the rent shouldn’t be seen as controversial.
“I would not let a house to single mums or victims of domestic violence, unless they had a rent guarantee,” Wilson tells LandlordZONE. “If they did have a rent guarantee, then I would say they were ‘preferred tenants’. We would take anyone as long as they had a rent guarantee.”
He adds that it was morally wrong to accept a £400 referencing fee from a single mum, who could ill afford it, if you knew she would fail and not qualify.
“Far better to let to the parent, usually around 50 years old, who did qualify for a rent guarantee and for them to sub-let to their daughter.”
Wilson insists that during legal actions, two circuit judges made the point that the comments about him being the ‘most hated landlord in Britain’ and ‘Britain’s most controversial landlord’ were not supported by evidence.
He says the standard of housing he’s provided has never been in dispute and remains frustrated that a 2019 Panorama programme ‘Britain’s Most Controversial Landlord’ which featured him in the process of evicting a number of tenants, didn’t show any positive footage.
“It was essential to give balance, but the BBC says it did not have time to show it in a 30-minute programme. If Panorama was intent on arguing that I was an ogre with no regard to single mums and battered wives then the footage should have been shown,” he adds. “The housing market has been very kind to me but the media, not quite as kind.”
Pic credit: Property Tribes
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