Multi-millionaire landlord Fergus Wilson - at one time described as Britain’s most successful buy to let landlord - is reported to have told a councillor to kill himself.
This was allegedly part of a long-running “campaign of harassment" spanning almost a decade, a court has been told.
Ashford council is applying to the High Court for a permanent injunction against Wilson to bring an end to harassment that it claims has been ongoing since 2011.
The Kent Online news website says the court has heard that legitimate inquiries by Wilson “would quickly turn to him constantly and repeatedly belittling, insulting and abusing councillors or council workers in an attempt to get his own way.”
This was part of a campaign which allegedly involved “a huge number of letters and emails” to the authority, along with “phone calls and formal complaints against officers, councillors and legal representatives.”
The council's representative Adam Solomon QC told the court that Wilson's behaviour had made workers feel harassed and intimidated, with some receiving emails from him on a daily basis.
Council leader Gerry Clarkson reportedly received many letters from Wilson sent to his home address, including one which advised him to "do all of the young people in Ashford a favour and commit suicide.”
The court also heard that Wilson subjected one of the council's legal representatives to “a focused ordeal spanning years, much of which featured emails to her superiors, some of which were copied to as many as 44 people within the council” and made personal references about her appearance.
Wilson’s legal representative, Andrew Deakin, argued that the communications the landlord sent out "didn't cross the threshold of what would be considered harassment”.
He also said councillors normally accept that they take on “the very real potential that individuals will write and express abhorrent expressions.”
Deakin added that writing about a person to a third party, such as an employee’s manager, could not be construed as harassment of that person.
Cases from both sides have concluded and a ruling is expected later this week.
You can see the full Kent Online story here.
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This doesn't surprise me at all. The worst face of buy-to-let landlords in the UK.
"He also said councillors normally accept that they take on “the very real potential that individuals will write and express abhorrent expressions.”" Well, that's OK then! What a bizarre defence. "Yeah, was me guv, but everyone's doing it."
Landlords undoubtedly get a bad press, but it's because of people like the Wilsons that that is the case. I think we need to acknowledge there are bad and good landlords, just like there are bad and good tenants, and bad and good letting agents. However, they are usually in the minority.
This guy is a modern-day Rachman.
The worst face is on here too in spades!
Fergus & Judith Wilson in Kent I understand were retired School Teachers, so had already made their Contribution to Society and only started being LL's at the end of their careers as a side line in retirement. I don't blame them at all I blame the Buy 2 Let Mortgages that weren't around in the decades before from memory I believe they were Started by The Woolwich Building Society and that's where the big Problem lies with virtually all Private Sector Housing hi-jacked / gazumped by this disastrous change why was it allowed to happen. Prior to this we all had Commercial Loans and had to pay our way.
So he’s not to blame for his behaviour? It’s okay for the Wilson’s to say what they’ve said? Are you serious?
This was all fake & fraud self certification indeed.100% or ever 125% Buy 2 Let Mortgages, facilitating new LL's to buy dozens / scores / even hundreds of Properties with owning anything really making a fool of traditional LL's. Get one Property & as soon as there was a bit of equity in it, revalue get deposit on the next property and so on continue in this vain for ever, it was totally tax efficient and Revenue rarely got little or any, now we are all paying the price for this, not our fault. Those were the ones abusing S.21 as well get rid of the Tenant at end of Term for no other reason than to start off with a New Tenant at a Higher price.
You can't link landlords who used rising property values to remortgage and put released equity into further properties, as I did several times - with rogue landlords, which I am not!
Indeed in my experience most rogue landlords used cash, probably untaxed earnings, before money laundering precautions made that more difficult (but not impossible even now).
What has all of your tosh got to do with an individual's bad behaviour/ A man who use to teach children?
So what ? The councils are full of zombies anyway
Fergus is alright a good bloke, doesn’t stand for any nonsense & runs a tight ship. He’s put a roof over a lot of peoples heads
#imwithfergus #standupforfurgus #savefurgus
Fully understand this professional LL. The councils ate useless, they have rules that apply to others but not themselves. They " steal" 100% council tax on Our properties trashed by their benefit grabbing tenants making tgem uninhabitable. Yet reduce Council Tax by 25% if a single person living in property, utter madness and stupid. Even the head of our council, a liberal, did not know what TA meant, in an email about tenants and forwarding addresses. On the side of this Professional LL totally.
The only criticism I have of Mr & Mrs Wilson is they were a bit too severe, could have been a bit more flexible in dealing with Tenants, which at the same time is understandable having been former Teachers with strict discipline and work ethic.
With their huge portfolio they would be constantly reminded that no good turn goes unpunished.
It's easy to be flexible with a small portfolio but big portfolios need rules consistently applied to avoid unwelcome complications.
One of the main reasons for the snowflake generation is teachers not using enough discipline and avoiding upsetting the poor dears.
Sorry but present day teachers, god help us, and god help the present day generations being taught by them and radicalised into their far left beliefs, the future looks bleak, I thank god that I'm a baby boomer and have at most another 20 - 30 yrs here.
Another blow for me today a Tenant ready to move on, looks like the place is almost secure but a Reference Agency wrote to me at a false address which he obviously gave them as they say they have a signed signature to be allowed to contact me. He gave them his name & current address (my Property) and LL's false address. However you might say how do I know so ? as luck would have it the lady who received it, is on a whats app group and asked if anyone knew me and where I lived & bingo I received it. I am now in a dilemma I have been very fair with him even though £6 arrears in the past although paid a couple times recently, now no notice given to me, looks like going to disappear probably going to use my months money on next place, in any case I can't give a declaration to Agency as it destroy him and whats more he thinks that I don't even know.
He's committing fraud and you owe it to the next landlord to be honest with them.
Robert, I've been placed in this difficult situation myself in the past, a tenant who is leaving, and I'm so pleased that they are leaving, and then I am asked for a reference from their new landlord, what to do? I'm not going to give a false reference, but I want rid, it's a case of choosing words very carefully.
Andrew
I agree it's not easy and as Michael says, it's a real dilemma. Let's hope such tenants eventually end up with the rogue landlords as they deserve each other.
coucils are full of snowflakes--good for fergus
You are correct, the jobsworths now use "abuse" as another stick to beat you with. You can call them up regarding a matter that they have failed on, you tell them they've failed, they don't know what they doing etc, they call this abuse and hang up the phone. So they've added a pompous, precious attitude to their list of failings as well, WTF!!
We know our options are very limited and the bad situation can get much worse, when they know we can't do anything for six maybe 12 months to add insult to injury, its in all their web-sites in all different languages to drum it into them, (no need for Shelters "How to Rent").
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