EXCLUSIVE: Fergus Wilson reveals he’s now served 75% of his tenants with Section 21 notices

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Multi-millionaire landlord Fergus Wilson has confirmed that he is to retire and sell off his impressive portfolio around Ashford and Maidstone, and revealed his progress.

The well-known landlord, who once had about 970 two-and three-bedroom properties and has an estimated net worth of £180 million, says that he has decided to exit the sector, only leaving himself 10 houses.

He tells LandlordZONE that he’s already served about 75% of tenants with a Section 21 eviction notice in the last two or three months and that he’s now sold “a good many” of the properties. “They’re going like hot cakes, helped by the new stamp duty rules – I’ve never known a time like it.”

Wilson says many of his houses are being snapped up by tenants rather than investors but his decision has already sparked anger from some; Callum Oakley and Emma Plaskett in Ashford were handed an eviction notice this week and claimed to the local press that they have faced a number of problems with the property including a faulty oven and a garage door fusing shut.

Section 21

However, Wilson said he had had the garage door repaired quickly but added: “If I had intended to give Mr Oakley a Section 21 due to reporting disrepairs, I would have done so in November 2019.”

In 2017 a court ruled that Wilson’s policy preventing people from renting his properties based on their ethnicity was unlawful following intervention from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

An injunction was imposed, banning him from applying criteria discriminating against “coloured” tenants, or those of Indian or Pakistani backgrounds.

The colourful character is unapologetic about his business and adds: “If people think I’ve got too many houses, that’s their opinion. I’ve enjoyed my work and I’ll miss it.”

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – EXCLUSIVE: Fergus Wilson reveals he’s now served 75% of his tenants with Section 21 notices | LandlordZONE.

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Next stages for mortgage holidays

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced proposals to ensure that firms provide tailored support to mortgage borrowers who continue to face payment difficulties due to coronavirus. During the initial phase of the pandemic, payment holidays provided mortgage borrowers with immediate and temporary support.

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Two sharing AST, one working, one on UC?

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I am aware of the potential disadvantages of dealing with tenants on benefits, but wondering how to set the rent on this one. Large flat, advertised at £395 for one person. The previous pair of tenants were paying £475.

The working tenant will pay first months rent and deposit upfront and I realise it’ll probably go to regular rent in arrears at least partially.

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Tenants given political backing to continue rent reduction battle with billionaire landlord

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Frustrated tenants who were refused a Covid-related rent reduction then handed eviction notices have pledged to front up their landlord after failing to secure a meeting with him.

The renters, who live in Olympic House (pictured), a block of 170 flats mainly owned by billionaire property developer John Christodoulou in Somerford Grove, Stoke Newington, are fighting their eviction.

They have the support of the Mayor of London’s office and the local council, who are holding up the struggle as emblematic of a private rented sector in need of reform.

In an example of how not to handle tenant relationships during the crisis, after they tried to negotiate with Christodoulou for a temporary 20% rent reduction, the group’s organisers’ tenancies appeared to be singled out for eviction, with notices citing the reason as a ‘business decision’.

Renters’ group organisers, who are London Renters Union members, were also threatened with legal action in a letter from letting agents Tower Quay, which cited procurement of others to breach their contracts.

Deputy mayor Tom Copley says the case highlights the inherent power imbalance within the private rented sector between landlords and tenants.

“The fact that landlords can for no reason simply choose to evict tenants who have been paying their rent, make them homeless, in what looks like a classic case of revenge eviction, I don’t think it’s right,” he says.

After initially saying renters’ requests for relief would be dealt with individually, they were turned down and instead told to use money saved on lunch, holiday, entertainment, clothes and travel to pay rent.

Those facing eviction at Somerford Grove have been asked to leave on 21st September, the day after the recently extended eviction ban ends. A spokesperson for the Somerford Grove Renters told local media if Christodoulou still refused to meet with them, they would continue with public action.

LandlordZONE has approached Tower Quay for a comment.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Tenants given political backing to continue rent reduction battle with billionaire landlord | LandlordZONE.

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UPDATE: New Fire Safety Regulations in the pipeline

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Genefell showed up the major failings in building fire safety in the UK and has prompted the need for consultations and new legislation initially in the form of a Building Safety Bill due to introduce new and enhanced regulatory regimes for building safety in England and construction products throughout the UK.

The housing secretary Robert Jenrick has described the planned reforms contained in the Bill as “the biggest change to our building safety regime for 40 years”. Landlords in particular will need to quickly adapt to the changes to ensure they are compliant.

The provisions contained in this draft Building Safety Bill will provide a complete regulatory overhaul of buildings fire safety and will bring in a new era in the way buildings are constructed and the products used to build them.

The new building safety regime will be overseen by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and will apply initially to all new multi-occupied residential buildings over 18 metres high, or six storeys, in height in England. All existing buildings will be brought within the parameters of the new legislation on a phased basis.

Cultural change

This is going to be a big cultural change for the property industry, construction and buildings maintenance, and will involve significant new duties for the buildings involved throughout their life cycle.

There is to be a mandated use of accurate digital models to maintain what is referred to as the “golden thread” of building safety information. For those involved in construction, building management and maintenance, their duties will be overseen and enforced by the regulator, and with serious consequences for non-compliance.

The HSE will be given new responsibilities for the safety and performance of every building, regardless of its height. HSE will oversee local authority building control and approved private building inspectors, it will advise on changes to the building regulations, and is tasked with improving the competence of all those personnel involved in the building industry, including building inspectors.

New terms are to be implied into long leases in England and Wales to govern the recovery of building safety costs from residents, and a New Homes Ombudsman for England will be established. New regulations will govern the safety of construction products and the competence of architects across England, Wales and Scotland.

Other buildings in England will have their fire safety regulations reviewed starting with a consultation process which aims to strengthen compliance and the enforcement powers to improve communication between building control bodies and fire and rescue services for all new developments.

Three stage approval

Those carrying out major refurbishments of residential high-rise buildings will be required to seek approval from HSE at three stages: planning permission; pre-construction; and prior to occupation.

For occupied high rise buildings an “accountable person” will need to be appointed to ensure that fire and safety regulations are adhered to and that residents have an input in this process. The accountable person will appoint a building safety manager to monitor the building safely on a day to day basis. HSE will oversee this process.

Buildings that come within the scope of the regulations will have to be registered before HSE will issue a “building assurance certificate” allowing occupation of the building, to be reviewed every five years. Failure to comply will be a criminal offence.

Duty holders will also be responsible for keeping vital safety information about how the building was designed and built and is managed up to date. This so-called ‘golden thread’ of information will be stored electronically for the entire life of the building. The government is likely to require that this digital record complies with building information modelling (BIM) standards.

Fire safety reform in buildings

The government has now published a consultation document seeking views on proposals to:

• Improve fire risk assessments
• record the identity of the responsible person for all buildings;
• introduce competence requirements for fire risk assessors;
• strengthen the rights of residents to access building safety information;
• increase penalties for non-compliance;
• enable all fire and rescue services to charge fees for enforcement activity, in a similar way to HSE ‘fees for intervention’;
• implement the recommendations from Phase 1 of the Grenfell Inquiry; and
• enhance consultation between building control bodies and fire and rescue services.

The consultation will close on 12 October 2020.

Draft Building Safety Bill

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – UPDATE: New Fire Safety Regulations in the pipeline | LandlordZONE.

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Landlord loses £6,364 in guaranteed rent payments after dispute with agency over damp

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Rent guarantee schemes are under the spotlight once more after a letting agency in London was booted out of The Property Ombudsman after failing to pay an award to a landlord following disputed rent payments.

Kent-based agency The London Landlord Limited, which claims to have three branches in the capital, is now believed to be trading illegally after its membership of TPO’s redress scheme was cancelled after it both failed to pay £6,364 awarded to a landlord and pay its TPO memberships fees.

The award was the culmination of a long investigation into the case of an unnamed landlord who entered into a guaranteed rent agreement with the agency, which in turn rented the property to a tenant.

After several months at the property, the tenant complained about damp within the property but the landlord and agency could not agree on its source, and no remedial work was completed.

Stopped payments

The agency then stopped payments to the landlord claiming he was in breach of his repairing obligations under the lease, withholding rent totalling £5,874.

After the dispute was referred to TPO, it found in the landlord’s favour and awarded him the disputed rent and £500 for aggravation, distress and inconvenience.

This was because the agency should have chased the freeholder not the landlord to complete a suspected leaky roof – and dealt direct with the tenant to see if their actions were causing the damp.

But despite the award, neither sum was paid to the landlord and, as TPO has no teeth to enforce the payment, the agency has instead been expelled, leaving the landlord to find another way to recoup the cash.

“As a member of TPO, agents are obliged to comply with awards made by the Ombudsman, which The London Landlord Limited failed to do,” says Gerry Fitzjohn, Non-Executive Director and Chairman of TPO’s Finance Committee.  

“It appears that this agent could still be trading so this is a warning to all consumers in the local area.”

Read more about Guaranteed rent schemes.

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TPO expels agent for failing to pay £6,000 award to landlord

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A letting agent in Finchley, The London Landlord Limited, has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) for failing to pay an outstanding award of over £6,000, they also failed to pay their membership renewal fees.

The Property Ombudsman received a complaint from a landlord who let his property under a guaranteed rent contract to The London Landlord.

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Can students demand break clauses?

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UNIVERSITY students believe break clauses should be automatically included in tenancy agreements to protect them financially in the event of a second wave of coronavirus, according to a survey conducted by websites Money Magpie and Save The Student.

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