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Good Old Fergus!
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Jonbvn
Posts: 5,562 Forumite
Such a lovely couple;)
One of Britain's best-known landlords has issued eviction notices to every tenant who is on welfare, and told letting agents that he will not accept any more applicants who need housing benefit.
Fergus Wilson, who with his wife Judith owns nearly 1,000 properties around the Ashford area of Kent, has sent the eviction notices to 200 tenants, saying he prefers eastern European migrants who default much less frequently than single mums on welfare. He says the move is purely an economic decision and points out that private landlords are running a business.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/04/buy-to-let-landlord-evicts-housing-benefit-tenants
One of Britain's best-known landlords has issued eviction notices to every tenant who is on welfare, and told letting agents that he will not accept any more applicants who need housing benefit.
Fergus Wilson, who with his wife Judith owns nearly 1,000 properties around the Ashford area of Kent, has sent the eviction notices to 200 tenants, saying he prefers eastern European migrants who default much less frequently than single mums on welfare. He says the move is purely an economic decision and points out that private landlords are running a business.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/04/buy-to-let-landlord-evicts-housing-benefit-tenants
In case you hadn't already worked it out - the entire global financial system is predicated on the assumption that you're an idiot:cool:
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How does he issue "eviction notices", has he now set himself up as a county court ? More poor reporting.0
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I guess it's his business and he can run it as he sees fit.
It does, however, seem like a spectacularly bad way to behave.0 -
Disgusting behaviour.
If he has actually written that about the eastern euopean immigrants in the eviction notices, I'd suggest he's enjoying it. Theres no need for it.
It appears he is targetting the single mums. I just hope there is suitable accomodation for these families. Though 200 households will provide major headaches for the council.
Sad story, and only going to induce racial hatred in the community for these people who lose out to incomers.
On the plus side, this might just force some sort of regulation through.0 -
maybe the issue is that there are too few properties being built at a time when the population is rising due to immigration0
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... then that's cut and dried black/white racism.Graham_Devon wrote: »
If he has actually written that about the eastern euopean immigrants in the eviction notices,
Off with his b4lls.0 -
Graham_Devon wrote: »Disgusting behaviour.
If he has actually written that about the eastern euopean immigrants in the eviction notices, I'd suggest he's enjoying it. Theres no need for it.
It appears he is targetting the single mums. I just hope there is suitable accomodation for these families. Though 200 households will provide major headaches for the council.
Sad story, and only going to induce racial hatred in the community for these people who lose out to incomers.
On the plus side, this might just force some sort of regulation through.
what sort of regulation do you propose?
maybe make it legal to discriminate against foreigners?
force landlords to take known bad payers?0 -
From the article....."Rents have gone north, and benefit levels south," he said. "The gap is such that I have taken the decision to withdraw from taking tenants on housing benefit.
From what I can gather just about all other landlords have done the same.
Our situation is that not one of our working tenants is in arrears – all those in arrears are on housing benefit."
A key factor for Wilson and other landlords is that it is impossible to obtain rent guarantee insurance for a tenant on housing benefit. This type of insurance is sold to landlords and is designed to cover the rent if the tenant stops paying for any reason.
Another issue Wilson raises is the number of tenancy applications landlords receive for each property.
"Tenants on benefits are competing with eastern Europeans who came to the UK in 2005 and have built up a good enough credit record to rent privately. We've found them to be a good category of tenant who don't default on the rent. With tenants on benefits the number of defaulters outnumbers the ones who pay on time," he said.
"Single mothers on benefits have been displaced to the bottom of the pile; sympathy for this group is disappearing. There aren't enough places for people to live."
It's a private business, not a housing charity?
A lot of people on here cheered on the changes to benefits as they thought it would make rents fall.
What it's actually done is make benefits claimants unviable to rent to.
And there is no shortage of working people ready to move in to the places they vacate...“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
And he's not the only landlord thinking the same way....Wilson is not the first large-scale landlord to raise concerns about low-income tenants. Last month Kevin Green, a landlord with more than 700 properties in Wales, said he may stop letting to people on welfare.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
Some BTL mortgage companies don't allow you rent to tenants on housing benefits. Some like Mortgage Express who have been taken over by the government threaten to call in the entire portfolio if a landlord breaches this condition.
Google suggests that quite a few of his mortgages are with Mortgage express.0 -
ruggedtoast wrote: »Scum.
.....Graham_Devon wrote: »Disgusting behaviour.
.PasturesNew wrote: »Off with his b4lls.
What exactly did you think would happen?
Rents have been rising so as to ration the limited supply of housing through price. There are not enough houses to go around, so some people must be excluded.
This is the market working exactly as it should.
As I recall, all three of you supported the changes to housing benefits that have caused this situation.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0
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