Buy to let gurus claim 25 tenants vying for one property to let

Two of Britain's most controversial landlords, Fergus and Judith Wilson, claim demand from prospective tenants is at a record high with 25 people viewing one property to let.

The Wilsons - believed by some to own up to 1,000 buy to let units, mostly in Kent - say that too few homes being constructed and the recently proposed scrapping of certain tax breaks for landlords will result in still greater demand and higher rents.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Fergus Wilson condemns the government for its failure to build enough homes and warns that house-sharing by families could become the norm in some areas, as in the postwar period.

"My parents lived in a shared house and had two rooms for two adults and three children. In the south east we are moving back to those days" he tells the Telegraph, recalling that his parents moved into a council house in 1952 following what had been a vast and unprecedented national programme of house building.

Wilson claims that in Kent, letting agents are seeing "25 prospective tenants seeking a two-bed house" but that despite such high demand he and his wife are now intent on disposing of some of their stock.

The Telegraph reports that Fergus Wilson claims that when selling to other investors, he has been disposing "in bulk at a minimum of 10 properties, with tenants in situ". But where tenancies had ended he sold homes on an individual basis to owner-occupiers. 

The Wilsons have joined much of the lettings industry by criticising George Osborne's proposal to introduce restrictions on buy to let tax breaks.