Kent property mogul Fergus Wilson sells empire for £250m

Fergus Wilson expects the sale of his portfolio to be completed by the end of June 2016

A couple who amassed nearly 1,000 buy-to-let properties in Kent have sold their empire to a foreign consortium for £250m.

Judith and Fergus Wilson began building their property portfolio in Maidstone and Ashford in the early 1990s.

At its height, they would purchase several homes a day.

Mr Wilson, 67, said he had intended to get out of the housing market seven years ago but was prevented by the global credit crunch.

He said: "Now it's changed, I thought I'd better get out at some point.

"When you build houses now they're meant to last for 300 years so everybody's getting on the upward spiral at some point, and you've got to get off at some point," he said.

Eviction notices

Mr Wilson told BBC Radio Kent that "never in my wildest dreams" had he imagined that his portfolio would get so big.

"We just drifted into it."

In January 2014, the landlord sparked a national outcry when he issued eviction notices to every one of his 200 tenants who received housing benefit.

He said he would rather have eastern European migrants as tenants than people on benefits.

Mr Wilson expects the sale of his portfolio - which he has described as "a hobby that simply got out of control" - to be completed by the end of next June.

He said existing tenants would not be affected and would just receive "a piece of paper called a Section 48 which notifies them of a change of landlord".

"Other than that it won't mean a thing to them, and they won't lose their homes or anything and they're all protected."

Mr Wilson said he was now considering standing as the next Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent, for which elections are being held next May.