Buy to Let Landlords

4
Dec/090

Buy to Let Landlords

Former mathematics teachers, Judith and Fergus Wilson are the envy of most buy to let landlords but the hate figures of many a British worker.

Fifteen years ago they were teaching in a South London comprehensive. With a personal wealth estimated at £90million, they even overtook the Beckham’s in The Times 2007Husband and Wives Rich List and own racehorses and a farm in rolling acres thanks to owning 910 two and three-bedroom houses around Ashford and Maidstone in Kent.

Despite being likened to high flying celebrity couples such as the Beckham’s, the Wilson’s are certainly an example of why not to judge a book by it’s cover.

Their home certainly does not look like the stately pile of a millionaire. There is no gold jacuzzi, no personal tanning salon, like Simon Cowell- not even a Rolls-Royce like Del Boy.
The only indication that the owners have a bob or two is a tired-looking Jaguar X-Type parked outside on their gravel drive. Even this is parked next to a battered old Land Rover with wing mirrors attached using sticky tape. It is difficult to believe that this is the home of Judith and Fergus Wilson, proud owners of a million pound Property Empire. In fact, according to Laura Powell at the Daily Mail, their fortune probably peaked at a staggering £250m - although that doesn’t stop property experts labeling them Britain’s first buy-to-let billionaires.

It’s easy to understand how this couple has acquired this fortune as Fergus at least, is surely Del Boy. Fifty years ago, Fergus was already wheeling and dealing. Aged 10, he earned pocket money by pushing wheelbarrows around an Essex building site and as a teenager, he made a bob or two sparring and boxing. He earned £2,000 with a home-made T-shirt printing business when he was a student at Goldsmiths, University of London. Instead of ironing on each of the prints individually, he worked out a way of printing in bulk using a borrowed baker’s oven!
Then, when he married Judith, they rented a four-storey house in Blackheath, South London, and sublet the lower three storeys to other couples at a price that covered the Wilsons’ own rent. ‘I thought that was good business at the time, but I’d never do that now,’ says Fergus. Cheekily, he adds: ‘Now, I’d rent each storey for even more money-I’d live there rent-free and make a profit!’

As humble as this couple may seem with their battered cars and average way of life, they spark a lot of anger amongst those that hear their ‘success’ story.
As the couple now plans to sell off their estate, many people are annoyed at the potential financial reward they could achieve due to their greed and ‘obsession’ with money with comments such as “Greed kept them in the game on the way up but now fear is throwing them out”.

It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds in the upcoming months/ years… we will keep you posted!

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