PRS landlord to evict tenants on housing benefit.

[citizenB]

I saw this on the news a few moments ago. Shocking.

 

 

 

 

A private rented sector landlord who owns 1,000 properties has sent eviction letters to every tenant who is receiving housing benefit.

 

 

Fergus Wilson owns the properties in Kent and has sent eviction notices to 200 tenants. He has also alerted letting agents that he will no longer accept tenants who require housing benefit.

 

He said the move was economic and added that he prefers Eastern European migrants to single mothers on benefits as they are more reliable at paying their rent.

 

Mr Wilson told The Guardian: ‘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.’

 

Backing up Mr Wilson’s claims that other landlords are doing the same, the National Landlords Association released research in December which revealed that the number of private landlords letting to people on benefits had dropped to just one in five.

 

Full story and comments - http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancies/prs-landlord-to-evict-tenants-on-housing-benefit/7001479.article

[2ltr16valve]

I saw this on the news a few moments ago. Shocking.

 

 

 

 

Full story and comments - http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancies/prs-landlord-to-evict-tenants-on-housing-benefit/7001479.article

 

 

Disgusted. I hope he loses everything.

[popeyethesailortam]

Hang on. He is running a business. If he is confident of filling the homes with tenants that will pay on time and give him less agro, I can't blame him.

 

It isn't his responsibility to house people.

[2ltr16valve]

Hang on. He is running a business. If he is confident of filling the homes with tenants that will pay on time and give him less agro, I can't blame him.

 

It isn't his responsibility to house people.

 

Not all dss tenants fail to pay the rent on either. Bet he wasn't moaning when the government were paying full rent to him !

I sincerely hope his tenants get together and sue him for discrimination. Seeing as he openly admits he wants to let to Eastern Europeans .... Can you imagine if I opened a shop for English people only. Providing a service. Running a business. Still discrimination

[havinastella]

Housing benefit is going down, private rents are going up.

 

No brainer I'm afraid

[popeyethesailortam]

Reading the guardian report he is saying over 50% of benefit claimants are behind on rent. If you had one sector who you knew at least half wouldn't pay you in full you wouldn't want them. This applies to any business.

 

I do agree he shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater & allow those with up to date rents to stay. Replacing them with whatever tenant he desires when they move out.

 

But for those behind on rent, then I am sorry but I have absolutely no sympathy. The benefit cap & other changes were well enough advertised. They had ample time to sort other accomodation before getting to this stage.

[45002]

Disgusted. I hope he loses everything.

 

I doubt he will loose anything,Him and his wife are worth approx 225 million .... http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentish_express/news/fergus-wilson-10923/

 

 

 

If like me,you will feel sick after watching this

 

http://www.channel4.com/news/housing-benefit-landlord-fergus-wilson-eviction

 

:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x

Edited January 6, 2014 by 45002

[popeyethesailortam]

If like me,you will feel sick after watching this

 

http://www.channel4.com/news/housing-benefit-landlord-fergus-wilson-eviction

 

:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x

 

What is not being appreciated is, this Landlord presumably has employees to maintain the properties and perform associated admin. As he says, he also has mortgage payments to make. If he doesn't get paid, the bank doesn't get paid and the likelihood is these employees jobs are put in jeopardy.

[antone]

We've created a monster here. There is, of course, no reason why commercial landlords should be expected to let out their properties without receiving rent in return, but our big mistake was selling off huge chunks of our social housing stock for a pittance. At least I don't need to beat myself up too much about that one - I was too young to vote when that ludicrous policy was introduced.

 

So what do we do? I dunno. I agree with the idea that private landlords should not evict people who are up to date on their rent simply because they receive LHA/HB. I further agree that landlords are within their rights to evict people who consistently fail to pay rent. But we were told that cuts to LHA rates would lead to falling rents. Hah! And once it becomes effectively impossible for those on HB to rent privately, and the social sector has inadequate supply to meet demand, what next?

[abc123def]

Someone I know has found it totally impossible to find anyone to accept her as a tenant for any property under the LHA because she intended to (temporarily) claim HB. She had no choice but to take on a property well above the LHA and is now relying on charity and is in poverty. In her area LHA has been frozen for the last 3 years so this is only set to get worse.

[sillygirl1]

If he has received assisted funding to get people into his accommodation this needs to be withdrawn, I have heard of this person before and they are certainly not representative of most private landlords.

 

I do hope that his former tenants report the company to HMRC and other official organisations, including Trading Standards and the local council as clearly he is being completely discrimnatory, possibly breaking housing regulations left, right and centre (and not to mention building regulations and Health and Safety).

 

I'm all for a good enterprise but reading about this person and their 'activities' leaves a bad taste in my mouth which usually means they are trouble big time.

[sillygirl1]

Years ago my dad had an accommodation agency, and used to advertise in a paper called Australian Express, stating there were landlords who wanted short term property for passing Australians and Kiwis, some pillock decided to try to take my dad to Human Rights because he was being discriminatory, but he proved he also had an ad in Jamacian Times for a similar service, and also in another ex-pat paper, so the case got thrown out at an early stage. That was back in the early 80s.

 

Wonder if anyone has thought of trying something on this lot similar - showing that they are misrepresenting the position of certain 'protected' characteristics - of which 'being on housing benefits' ought to be covered!

[citizenB]

A lot of landlords benefitted from the introduction of Housing benefit, because they knew that whatever was asked, they would pretty much get.

 

Didnt capping of HB start when it was noticed that some housing stock in London were raking in rents of £2 - 3,000 per month ?

[Farbramble]

Nothing has changed. I recall being homeless back in the nineties and no LL would take me on as I was claiming DLA/IS - despite having enough for the deposit.

 

But yeah, that LL is a real piece of work.

[estellyn]

When we rented our private rental property, we were both working. Now I'm disabled and husband is my carer, we are on benefits and I needed ground floor accommodation due to medical needs. I contacted every letting agent in the city, and none would take us without either a guarantor (which we couldn't provide), or 6 month's rent in advance plus 2 month's rent as deposit, despite never missing a rent payment in four and a half years of renting. Private renting needs a serious overhaul with a new regulatory structure being imposed.

 

 

Luckily for us, we qualified for acceptance onto the social housing register, and have moved into a ground floor HA flat, but had I not had medical grounds, and just the fact we could no longer afford our rent, we would have been stuffed.

[popeyethesailortam]

Totally agree on the housing stock sell off antone. There also should of been far more housing stock built by social landlords/councils.

 

At the start of this current recession our government spent millions on a scheme to kick start the motor industry with the scrappage scheme. As a motor trader I believe this was wrong. It should of been spent on large building projects such as council housing or schools. The only stipulation I would of made is that only UK workers were employed. Once people have money in their pockets and are spending, all other industries benefit.

 

The only thing that will curb this current situation is to curtail the influx of economic migrants, especially from Eastern Europe. As long as there are people willing to pay that price for the houses then rent prices will never drop.

[sillygirl1]

I agree with stopping 'economic migration' as there is little benefit to the local communities, other than overcrowded schools, housing shortages and drains on local resources as schools need additional classroom assistants to help with the language barrier.

 

I also believe that publishing the 'allowed maximum rents' caused a big 'burp' in the private housing market.

 

I am resigning a lease between myself, the landlord and the local council on Friday and my rent (which hasn't gone up in 5 years) rises slightly to the maximum, but they ARE paying him directly now, which means that the council have to deal with themselves over any alleged shortfall! That should make them realise how their rules need to be changed.

 

I also am on the housing list, for the over 55's and am entitled to one bedroom, but there are some extremely large bedsits in a block near the local station I am interested in, so I also have a viewing for one of those, the rent there is about £250 a month lower than here, and also the council tax is a lower band, so should I be successful and like the flat (and get the job I am going for tomorrow) I will be better off all round.

 

Property round here is not bad, but in this block of 33 flats there are about 10 UK nationals, everyone else is Polish, Lithuanian, Ukranian and a couple of Turkish and Chinese...

 

I wonder what the ethnic breakdown of the tenants of the landlord in the article would be. Glad I am not living in one of his properties!

[solbert]

I saw this on the news a few moments ago. Shocking.

 

 

 

 

Full story and comments - http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancies/prs-landlord-to-evict-tenants-on-housing-benefit/7001479.article

 

 

 

I have known this couple for over 25 years, and would certainly not accept that Fergus is heartless. His wife, when I first met them. was a school teacher in a local comprehensive. She is most understanding of the needs of people who are having to rely on Housing Benefit.

 

 

However you do have to remember that their true wealth is not related to the gross value of their properties. In fact all of their properties are mortgaged.

 

 

Like all good business people they saw a niche in the property market when Park Farm, Ashford was being developed and started to buy up a large number of new 2 bed properties. They then looked at Hawkinge and did the same, sometimes buying up part streets.

 

 

They run a business, and have to cover their costs. They expect and demand that all rents are paid on time in full. The rents they charge are mid market.

 

 

I cannot accept that they should be challenged on the basis they should have a moral responsibility for tenants who will not or cannot pay their rent for whatever reason. That is the responsibility of local government.

 

 

They are not financially greedy or in favour of any creed or nationality. All they want is for the tenant to be able to pay their rent on time in full and if that means not accepting those on Housing Benefit so be it. As for Eastern Europeans, they have for many years relied on these to provide their property maintenance which has been carried out without fuss and at minimal cost.

 

 

It is totally wrong for them to be made the scapegoats for housing and welfare policies dictated by both the National and local governments.

[solbert]

Personally I don't understand why there is so much deemed demand for rental properties.

 

 

Up until about 2007 nearly everybody I know of my children's ages (30-40) had already bought their own properties. Some are now receiving help via SMI and a means tested benefit, but none are in danger of being evicted.

 

 

Given the ever increasing value of property over the past year or so, all now have a healthy equity balance in their homes.

 

 

Maybe rentals are due to past poor financial decisions (over spending on credit cards/loans etc, bankruptcy, IVA, increase in mortgage to release capital for a new car or expensive holiday).

 

 

Most people who I know have good financial management skills and are now seeing their homes grow in value again, even if some are unemployed and on benefits.

[antone]

Personally I don't understand why there is so much deemed demand for rental properties.

 

 

Up until about 2007 nearly everybody I know of my children's ages (30-40) had already bought their own properties. Some are now receiving help via SMI and a means tested benefit, but none are in danger of being evicted.

 

 

Given the ever increasing value of property over the past year or so, all now have a healthy equity balance in their homes.

 

 

Maybe rentals are due to past poor financial decisions (over spending on credit cards/loans etc, bankruptcy, IVA, increase in mortgage to release capital for a new car or expensive holiday).

 

 

Most people who I know have good financial management skills and are now seeing their homes grow in value again, even if some are unemployed and on benefits.

 

Good grief.

[popeyethesailortam]

So true solbert. So many hock themselves up tot the eyeballs but somehow it isn't their fault you know.

[Farbramble]

Good grief.

 

Exactly, let's support the enablers of a Dickensian society. Even if cardboard cities were to spring up everywhere, I'm sure the Fergus Wilsons of this world would make a tidy profit.

[estellyn]

Good grief.

 

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

 

The most common reasons I've come across that people my age (30-40) don't own their own property is lack of deposit, not having the income to meet the income multiple requirement for the mortgage on a property in their area and divorce.

[solbert]

Exactly, let's support the enablers of a Dickensian society. Even if cardboard cities were to spring up everywhere, I'm sure the Fergus Wilsons of this world would make a tidy profit.

 

And why not? Isn't that what running a business is all about?

 

 

If people have a problem with housing policy or the welfare state relating to housing benefit, why don't they look to the people that are causing the problems - the government - and not to buy to let landlords on how they operate their business?

 

 

Blaming landlords is playing right into the hands of the government - they are past masters of deflecting responsibility onto anybody other than themselves.

[worried parent]

And why not? Isn't that what running a business is all about?

 

 

If people have a problem with housing policy or the welfare state relating to housing benefit, why don't they look to the people that are causing the problems - the government - and not to buy to let landlords on how they operate their business?

 

 

Blaming landlords is playing right into the hands of the government - they are past masters of deflecting responsibility onto anybody other than themselves.

 

This is so right the government has the responsibility to ensure that people have adequate housing not the landlord. So many landlords are now having to evict tenants as they cannot get much rent at all. I heard one that he was getting £2 a month with a £600 mortgage to pay and the local authority thought that the amount he got was fine - benefit cap to blame here. A lot of people do not realize that landlords do have costs to pay out and if there is no rent who pays. Insurance, gas safety and electrical checks all have to be paid for out of the rent that is obtain.