Good Old Fergus!

Zandoni

The man is a vexatious litigant.

westernpromise

A man should have a hobby. Model railways; pigeon racing; suing gormless renties.

Zandoni

He is at it again.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-44902381

Graham_Devon

Zandoni wrote: »

He is at it again.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-44902381

What an idiot...

Mr Wilson said he blames the local council's "strict rules" on how quickly boilers need to be fixed in homes with babies.

westernpromise

On this occasion I think he has a point.

chucknorris

Zandoni wrote: »

He is at it again.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-44902381

From the article:

Mr Wilson said he blames the local council's "strict rules" on how quickly boilers need to be fixed in homes with babies.
Mr Wilson claims the council specifies homes with children over the age of five must have necessary work carried out "as soon as possible", but for homes with babies work must commence "immediately".

The council wording is obviously not correct, because it might not be possible to get a heating engineer immediately. But Wilson is evicting potentially vulnerable tenants just to make a petty point to the council, he is not only a fool, but totally uncaring too.

Graham_Devon

westernpromise wrote: »

On this occasion I think he has a point.

Why?

We have cover in our business under British Gas. Always there the same day (if reported in the morning) and replaced a boiler for us within 48 hours.

What's so hard? Apart from actually paying for the service?

Ashford Council actually ask for the work to be completed within 4 working days, which Fergus claims is unreasonable.

I find that totally reasonable if he's going to accept the housing benefits.

The 69-year-old millionaire, who owns 1,000 homes in Kent, claimed ABC!!!8217;s four-day deadline to carry out emergency works was unreasonable - because plumbers are scarce and he fears being fined.

He added: !!!8220;If there were to be a problem with hot water then we cannot get a gas safety engineer in under four days, when the council requires the work to be done !!!8216;immediately!!!8217;.

!!!8220;We know we will not be able to comply with that expectation so have brought these tenancies to an end.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/property-tycoon-evicts-single-mums-186616/

There are a whole range of products out there that will sort the boiler in 4 days, specifically tailored at landlords.

One of the bigger problems he has, as per the comments on that page is that a vast number of local tradespeople refuse to work for him and he refuses to pay the going rate. Seems the larger companies in his area have all taken him to the small claims court to get the money he owed them.

And then he complains you can't get a plumber.

And seems he hasn't sold any properties as he previously claimed.

Malthusian

So in other words he is correct to evict the mothers as he can't guarantee being able to carry out emergency works within the council's specified timeframe, as no plumber who isn't stupid or desperate will work for him.

The only solutions here are 1) the council buys the properties off Wilson 2) the council changes its rules or grants him an exemption 3) evict the mothers. The council presumably doesn't want to do 2) or shell out for 1).

I thought he was selling off all his properties to overseas investors? I suppose this article confirms that Wilson must have at least four properties. I am still not convinced that most of his property portfolio exists outside his own head.

westernpromise

Malthusian wrote: »

So in other words he is correct to evict the mothers as he can't guarantee being able to carry out emergency works within the council's specified timeframe, as no plumber who isn't stupid or desperate will work for him.

It certainly seems that way, but in fact it's an unjustifiable risk to take even if he didn't have trouble with tradesmen. What does "immediately" mean and how can anyone guarantee that a third party will attend immediately?

I rented a property where the gas etc was supposedly maintained by British Gas and they were appalling. If you were the landlord their ineptitude could be decided - by the local council heroes! - to be your fault.

No thanks - S21 and be done with it. I don't see how it's discriminatory any more than the council's own rules are.

Malthusian

The word "immediately" would normally be considered open to interpretation and my initial instinct was to say that if Wilson took all reasonable steps to arrange for a boiler to be fixed urgently then he would be fine.

However my initial instinct was wrong. The council's rules specify that "immediately" means "quicker than is actually possible".

If the council's rules have been described accurately they say that "homes with children over the age of five must have necessary work carried out "as soon as possible", but for homes with babies work must commence "immediately"." The implication is that homes for babies must be prioritised more than homes with children of 5+. So far so sensible. But homes with children of 5+ must already have work carried out "as soon as possible". Homes with babies must therefore have work carried out sooner than possible which is obviously, er, impossible. It's Alice in Wonderland stuff. The Humpty Dumpty school of housing regulations.

The only way to avoid this problem is to either cross your fingers, break the local regulations every time a boiler breaks down and hope the council don't enforce their unworkable rules, or quit the market. Wilson is a toad and an obvious fantasist but it's not his fault that Ashford's councillors are incompetent.