Fergus Wilson faces civil action for ‘no coloureds’ discriminatory policy

Fergus Wilson faces civil action for ‘no coloureds’ discriminatory policy

14:25 PM, 29th March 2017, About 7 years ago 17

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UK’s “largest” landlord is accused of racism and bigotry

The controversial Landlord, Fergus Wilson is likely to face civil charges under the Equality Act for racial discrimination.

Mr Wilson, who claims to be one of the largest UK property owning landlords, was reported to have instructed his letting agents not to rent to “coloured people” because of the cost of removing the smell of curry.

Defending himself Wilson told the Sun “To be honest, we’re getting overloaded with coloured people. It is a problem with certain types of coloured people, those who consume curry, it sticks to the carpet.

“You have to get some chemical thing that takes the smell out. In extreme cases you have to replace the carpet.”

Hope Not Hate, the Anti-racism charity told the Independent “you simply cannot treat people like this and deny them a place to live due to their skin colour. This is the unacceptable face of the housing crisis. There is something broken in the system when such a powerful figure can get away with such an appalling policy. Fergus Wilson’s comments would seem laughably offensive, a throwback to the Alf Garnett era, if they weren’t so serious in their implication.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has indicated it will take action against Wilson, who has also banned battered wives and single mothers from letting his homes.

At a time when Landlords themselves are facing their own discrimination in a hostile political environment the last thing needed is for such an unpleasant character to hit the national press giving a target against landlords for the public and politicians to rile against.


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

12:26 PM, 30th March 2017, About 7 years ago

From my perspective there are two issues here.

1) I think Fergus Wilson is a complete prick and the sooner somebody sues the pants of him and the likes of him the better. He, and others like him, are vile people and we could do without them in our business. It is people like him who cause landlords generally to have a bad name and this leads to legislation which affects all good landlords.

2) The easiest way to deal with bad tenants is never to grant them a tenancy. If in doubt make it a condition of your vetting process that you see prospective tenants in their current home before agreeing to anything. If they refuse that tells it's own story. The state of the tenants existing home will provide a good indication of how they will treat yours. If in doubt refuse to grant a tenancy. There is no acceptable excuse for racism.

As an aside, I've also heard that Fergus refuses to rent to anybody with the surname Wilson. I can only guess that he's worried about identity fraud but understanding how his mind works is something perhaps better left to psychologists.
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Dr Rosalind Beck

13:34 PM, 30th March 2017, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "John Maynard" at "30/03/2017 - 11:02":

Hi John. Being pedantic, I have to make a minor correction and observation. The spelling is 'Kraut' (I know because I'm half-Kraut) and interestingly you mention 'weeding out' and Kraut means 'herb' whilst 'Unkraut' means weed! Just thought I'd give a language lesson (I don't mind being called a Kraut - neither did my father and he was a complete Kraut).

JohnCaversham

13:45 PM, 30th March 2017, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Dr Rosalind Beck" at "30/03/2017 - 13:34":

🙂 Hi Ros, I hope no offence was taken-non was implied-just a bit of fun..!

Paul Green

16:11 PM, 30th March 2017, About 7 years ago

I've recently had a muslin single mum, who stayed short term, came down from Scotland to be close to London on a temporary work contract. No problems model tenant and a young married Indian couple mid to late 20's who stayed 20 months, and eventually bought a house locally in the same town as my rental property's in the south east. Their cuisine did leave a hint of an odour, but nothing a professional clean of the flat an carpets,that sorted it all out, that they paid for as I always add this clause into the AST from day one. So they know when they moved in to a professionally cleaned flat they are willing and leave having it cleaned. The wording is the tenant on vacating will pay for a professional clean to include the whole flat, carpets and oven, to either be paid upfront or taken from the deposit, which ever they prefer. Again model tenants, neither missed a month's payment and looked after the flats as if they were there own.....wished they never left. And gave a glowing reference...

Dr Rosalind Beck

19:07 PM, 30th March 2017, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "John Maynard" at "30/03/2017 - 13:45":

Hi John. No offence taken at all. I was more interested in the irony that you said 'Kraut' and mentioned weeding out.

H B

16:43 PM, 31st March 2017, About 7 years ago

Refusing to let to someone based on choices they have made, such as employment, is entirely accepted. Refusing to let to someone based on the colour of their skin, is not.

Some may have a subconscious bias towards certain tenant types, but to overtly exclude individuals based on traits they were born with us unacceptable and rightly illegal.

Wilson is an embarrassment to us.

Mandy Thomson

11:05 AM, 1st April 2017, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "30/03/2017 - 12:26":

"As an aside, I’ve also heard that Fergus refuses to rent to anybody with the surname Wilson. I can only guess that he’s worried about identity fraud but understanding how his mind works is something perhaps better left to psychologists."

-:) @ Groucho Marx - "I wouldn't want to join a club that would have me as a member!"

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