Millionaire wife of ‘Britain’s worst landlord’ hit with £166k legal bill over ‘eyesore’ home

• Judith Wilson loses legal war against Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council
• Mrs Wilson tried to sue the Kent council over safety work at out on her home
• Her property mogul husband Fergus Wilson once tried to ban a ‘coloured tenant’

The millionaire wife of a man once dubbed Britain’s ‘worst landlord has been hit with a £166,000 court bill after losing a court fight against a council over safety work that left her red brick Victorian home a multi-coloured ‘laughing stock’.

Judith Wilson, 73, claims her once elegant home in the village of Wateringbury, Kent, has become an ‘eyesore’ after her local council carried out vital safety repair works on an external wall, removing large sections of brickwork.

The former maths teacher – who’s husband Fergus Wilson, once the biggest private landlord in the country who infamously tried to ban a ‘coloured tenant’ who ‘smelled of curry’ from living in one of his homes – claimed council workers re-inserted the original bricks ‘any old how,’ resulting in an odd multi-coloured effect.

The ‘white, yellow and green’ renovated section of the red brick 18th century building led to Mrs Wilson being peppered with letters and comments from disgruntled village residents, she said.

The property tycoon sued Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council for £100,000 over the alleged ‘damage’ done to the façade of the former teashop but has now been left with a court bill of £166,000 after losing her case at Central London County Court.

Mrs Wilson carved out a £250million real estate empire alongside husband Fergus, accumulating multiple properties in the 1980s when the prices were at rock bottom.

They went on to become multi-millionaires, with houses across Kent, including a £2million mansion near Maidstone, Kent’s county town. 

At the height of their power, property mogul Fergus is thought to have owned 300 homes before raking in more than £40million from the sale of 166 properties.

The ‘eyesore’ home in Tonbridge Road, Wateringbury, currently at the centre of the court row is a former tea shop bought to use as a residential property.

A renovation project was carried out in two phases between 2018 and 2019, first stabilising the structure and later rebuilding the affected front wall.

Mrs Wilson was initially happy to fund and oversee the project, but had to step back in 2019 because of health problems, with Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council taking control to make it safe, using its powers under the Building Act 1984.

As a self-confessed ‘control freak’ who liked to keep a tight hand on her building projects, it was deeply frustrating to have to surrender control, Mrs Wilson told the court.

And things got worse for the tycoon when she saw the result of the council’s builders’ handiwork.

‘The final result was awful. We looked at the brickwork and some people came up to us and said “what on earth is this?”. They were staggered,’ she told the judge.

Mrs Wilson told District Judge Samuel Rippon she also received letters from local residents ‘complaining about it being an eyesore’. 

‘I’m very concerned because this is a pretty village and when you look at these bricks it’s an absolute eyesore,’ she added after the court hearing.

Mrs Wilson sued for £100,000 over the alleged ‘damage’ done to the former teashop’s facade.

The council denied all liability and counter-sued to cover the costs of the latter phase of the building project.

Representing herself in court, Mrs Wilson argued the authority was liable to compensate her for breaching its duty of care while contracted to carry out the repair works.

Horatio Waller, the council’s lawyer, said safety had been the overriding priority, stating: ‘Mrs Wilson accepted the property was in a dangerous condition in 2019’.

He added a risk assessment from November that year pinpointed the building as ‘likely to collapse – and with the potential consequence of fatalities’.

While the builder who oversaw the project had told the court the wooden lintel of the building ‘was so rotten that the wall was sinking’, before adding: ‘I wasn’t instructed to make the building look pretty, just to make it safe’.

The council, not Mrs Wilson, was in charge of the building project, argued the barrister Mr Waller, and safety not aesthetics was the key factor.

On top of that, he claimed Mrs Wilson did not specifically ask for the bricks to be re-coloured or given a ‘soot wash’ to retain their authentic look.

Judge Rippon ultimately threw out Mrs Wilson’s claim, saying the works had been necessary for safety reasons, with the council identifying the hazardous state of the building as a risk to human life.

He said: ‘She admitted that both she and her husband are control freaks who generally controlled every part of a project.

‘She felt that she was prevented from being involved in this and this was clearly a source of frustration. Mrs Wilson was unhappy that due to her ill-health she couldn’t oversee the works.’

The judge accepted the council’s case and concluded ‘no duty of care was owed by the authority to the claimant in respect to the building works. 

‘The works were carried out to make the building safe – no more,’ he added. 

The judge ordered Mrs Wilson to pay £106,752 to cover what the council spent on the work, plus interest, with another £60,000 up front towards its lawyers’ bills.

In June last year, her husband Mr Wilson faced his own court war when he was banned from selling off his houses in a bid to avoid paying a £250,000 legal bill. 

It came after the property mogul was banned for life from contacting Ashford Borough Council after a 10-year campaign of abuse against its staff. 

During the campaign, Mr Wilson referred to a female member of staff as an ‘objectionable lady’ and ‘Michelin lady’ in an email where he called for her to be sacked.

Six years ago the landlord gained infamy for banning tenants he described as ‘coloured’ because he said they ‘smell like curry’.

In 2017 this ban was overturned in a court victory for the Equality and Human Rights Commission.