Fergus Wilson has been defending his comments (Picture: PA)

A buy-to-let tycoon has called in police following online abuse levelled at him after it emerged he banned ‘coloured’ people because he claims they leave properties smelling of curry.

Fergus Wilson, 69, has been passed Facebook posts showing images of himself and his wife Judith holding doctored property boards with offensive messages on them.

One reads: ‘I am a racist c***, 2% of people disagree with this statement.’

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Another reads: ‘Racist, homophobic prick’, while one other says: ‘2%, the percentage of people that don’t think I’m a twunt.’


Mr Wilson said a YouTube video in which he is called a ‘racist dickwad’ had also been reported to police.



A Kent Police spokesman said: ‘Kent Police is aware of this issue and will be working to establish if any offences have taken place.’

The controversy followed a leaked email listing Mr Wilson’s requirements for potential tenants, including: ‘No coloured people because of the curry smell at the end of the tenancy.’

Amid a public backlash, Mr Wilson refused to back down and said his stance was no different from his ban on letting his properties to smokers and dog owners.

Mr Wilson, long regarded as Britain’s biggest buy-to-let investor with hundreds of properties in Kent, said his decision was based on an ‘economic view, not a racist view’.

Mr Wilson compared the policy similar to that of banning smokers and pets (Picture: PA)

He said he has previously been left thousands of pounds out of pocket in lost rent and re-carpeting costs from ridding a property of curry smells.

Mr Wilson said: ‘My stance is that it is neither racist nor discrimination to refuse to take people from any ethnic background on the basis that there is a heightened risk of ‘injury’ to the house.

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‘A house left smelling of curry and the need for a new carpet after a six-month tenancy is an ‘injury’ to the house. It is a risk I am not prepared to take.’

Mr Wilson said carpets ruined by ingrained curry smells were not covered by insurance, adding: ‘The landlord is his own insurer here.

‘No insurance company will offer block insurance for carpets spoilt by curry but will do for carpets spoilt by leaks or other insured perils.’

And he went on: ‘Let me be perfectly honest on this point. In a predominantly white English area, almost all landlords will not let to Indian and Pakistani tenants because of the smell of curry.’

The Equality and Human Rights Commission said Mr Wilson’s instructions to the letting agent were ‘unlawful’ and it pledged to investigate.

And Hope Not Hate described Mr Wilson as ‘the unacceptable face of the housing crisis’ and compared him to the racist bigot Alf Garnett from BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part.