Britain’s biggest buy-to-let investors have sold nearly half their £250m property portfolio
A couple crowned Britain's biggest buy-to-let landlords have sold off nearly half of their £250m property portfolio and called time on the era of the "amateur landlord".
Fergus and Judith Wilson became notorious for buying up properties to rent when the buy-to-let boom kicked off in the 1990s.
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By last year when they decided to sell up, the tycoons had amassed around 900 properties across the south east in areas such as Folkestone, Ashford and Maidstone.
The Wilson's last year revealed they were giving up the game, which they called a hobby that got out of control.
Now, the pair have sold off around 400 of the properties mostly to overseas buyers and around 50 going to tenants, the Financial Times reports.
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"The day of the amateur landlord is over" he declared to the newspaper, saying that banks had tightened their lending criteria from the free-for-all 90s.
“If you were an amateur landlord in those days, as long as you could spell your name, you would get a mortgage,” he said."No one appeared to check anything. I wouldn’t say it is impossible but it is much tougher. Some [banks] are offering loan-to-value of only 60 per cent."