Kentish Express Ashford & District
Landlord wants to evict large families
A millionaire landlord is to evict all families with more than two children, as well as householders living with kids and grandparents.
Property tycoon Fergus Wilson, who rents out more than 1,000 properties in Ashford and Maidstone, said he had taken the decision after tenants who had moved in large families left him liable to overcrowding and prosecution.
He said he has already served eviction notices to 11 tenants, but does not know how many others have been moving in extra family members unbeknown to him.
The 66-year-old, from Boughton Monchelsea, said: “Most of our houses are two-bedrooms. The reality is that a single person or couple take a house. However, after a couple of months there are four, five, six children and I have to evict the family.”
He said this breaches statutory controls for overcrowding and leaves the landlord liable for prosecution by the council.
He added: “Should they move in just more than children I evict the family.
“Are the rules wrong? I think so, but I still play by them.”
Mr Wilson said that Eastern European tenants often lived in three generation houses and suggested that the regulations discriminated against them.
He added: “When they move in the children they move in grandma. Unfortunately, that too often triggers statutory overcrowding which is a criminal offence. It is sad but I can’t house all the people.”
The tycoon has previously said he preferred to rent to migrants, who he claimed were more likely to pay their rent on time – a claim he made after serving eviction notices on 200 tenants on housing benefits in January.
Then he came under fire from housing charity Shelter, which said the refusal of private landlords to accept welfare claimants forced some to leave their home towns or accept poor quality housing.
Mr Wilson announced in July that he was to sell his empire and retire.
He said he had received three offers, but was continuing to manage his buy-to-let portfolio while he considered them.