Andrzej Koper, an IT worker from Ashford, Kent, says he is a model tenant. He has always paid his £695 monthly rent on time for the two years he has lived in a two-bed terrace on the Park Farm estate with his daughter.

He has had no complaint against his landlords, Fergus and Judith Wilson, who own close to 1,000 properties in the area, many on his estate. But on the morning of 16 April, Koper, 41, turned on his shower – and only cold water came out. Over the next eight days he battled to have the boiler fixed – the Wilsons insisted he misunderstood how the system worked – only to be stunned when on 25 April Judith Wilson issued a formal possession notice ordering him to leave the property on 8 July.

The Wilsons hit the headlines in January this year when Guardian Money revealed they had issued eviction notices to all their tenants on welfare – believed to be around 200 – and told letting agents they would not accept any more applicants on housing benefit.

Earlier this month Fergus Wilson, 65, was found guilty of attacking Folkestone estate agent Daniel Wells in a dispute over a boiler, where it was alleged that he shouted abuse at the agent, hit him on the head, and knocked him out of his chair. He was ordered to pay a £500 fine and £950 in costs but is appealing against the ruling.

The Wilsons say Koper's home is just one of 50 they want to put up for sale, and they are not evicting him because he complained – the eviction notice was "entirely coincidental". The possession notice does not give a reason for the eviction.

Koper works for the Guardian in its information security department. We asked him if he was in any way a "problem tenant" – had he caused a nuisance, fallen behind with the rent, or damaged the property? On the contrary – the Wilsons' letting agents, ASM, had earlier told him he was "a model tenant", he says. "They even said they would be happy to provide me with a good reference. I get on well with my neighbours and haven't caused any fuss. The property is fine, even though it could do with a spruce up. One or two of the fence panels had come down in the storms, but it's not the sort of thing I give two hoots about, and I wasn't badgering the Wilsons to do anything about it."

Given his good payment record, Koper thought that sorting out the boiler would be straightforward. He emailed the Wilsons the same morning he discovered the problem. "I need to report that after waking this morning and attempting to have a shower I have discovered that the supply of hot water has stopped. I have checked all the settings and they seem to be as they have been for the past two years of living here. Would you be able to send someone out as soon as possible?" He also asked whether he should follow a protocol established by the letting agents, whereby if the Wilsons choose not to send a repair person, the tenant can contact Chivers, a Folkestone plumbing firm, pay their £66 call-out fee and take it off the rent. Koper said the arrangement means, however, that tenants need to obtain approval from the Wilsons if any further work is required.

But what followed was a series of increasingly abrupt emails, seen by Guardian Money, in which Koper was first told to fix the issue himself – "Look it up online" – and which finished with "The problem appears to be you do not know how to operate hot water in warm weather." All the time, Koper and his daughter, Anya, aged 10, who stays with him two days a week, had no access to hot water, including over the entire Easter period. Koper repeatedly requested if he could invoke the "protocol", but was ignored.

Frustrated by the lack of action, Koper took matters into his own hands and called Chivers, paying the £66 fee from his own pocket. The plumber issued a report which said "fault was found on temperature sensor … Cost to supply and fit a new sensor: £79.25+VAT."

However, Chivers said they would not do the work without the Wilsons' approval – which was not forthcoming. On 24 April Koper emailed the Wilsons: "I appreciate you may be busy … but I also work and am also a busy person. The property is still without hot water and has been now for eight days!!! I am a working tenant that has paid his rent on time every month for almost two years now, and to be treated in such a manner is unprofessional and discourteous. If you do not respond to my mail by the close of business today … I shall be forced to engage with Chivers to undertake the repair, so that I may receive the services I originally rented the property with. I shall then seek a refund via the rent for the full amount for the repairs (£79+VAT) including the original call-out charge of £66."

He had no reply. But that same day, at 5.15pm, a bombshell dropped into his inbox. The agents, ASM, emailed to say they said they had been "instructed by your landlord, Mrs J Wilson, to issue the enclosed formal notice stating they require possession of [the property] after July 8." A section 21 notice gives a landlord an automatic right of possession without having to give any reasons once the initial fixed term has expired, which in Koper's case it has.

"All I can think is that I got their back up and this is how they respond. I don't know how he can be allowed to do this," says Koper.

Landlords Fergus and Judith Wilson. Photograph: Martin Godwin

We put Koper's case to the Wilsons. In a statement, Fergus Wilson replied: "This gentleman did not have a 'boiler malfunction'. What he had was a heat sensor in a Boilermate fail. Quite a cheap job. He stated in his email that he was going to get it fixed himself and deduct it from the rent, which I have no problem with and is normal for tenants to do. That was some days ago. As far as my staff are aware that is what happened. As far as his possession notice is concerned, from what I can see his house is one of a number to go on the market for sale." He said he was selling around 50 of his two-bed properties, hoping to fetch £200,000-£225,000 each.

But Koper says: "I had not proceeded with getting the repair done myself for fear of being told I did not have the authority to do so. It's a case of you are damned if you do and damned if you don't with Mr Wilson."

In a later call to the Guardian, Wilson, whose personal fortune is estimated at £180m and who is 453rd in the Sunday Times Rich List, said: "I get the sense Mr Koper is not English. I think he's got a bit of an understanding problem. We have staff who speak foreign languages, but Polish is not one of them. We have everyday problems with Boilermates, and the sensors do go … he was getting confused. He was told to put it on the emergency supply. That would definitely have worked. We don't provide a 365-day, 24/7 service. If they can't get hold of us, they can [call out a repair person] themselves. The notice of possession was purely coincidental."

Koper, who was born and raised in England and is dismayed by the accusation that he might have poor English, showed us photographic evidence that the emergency supply the Wilsons suggested he use does not exist on his boiler.

He said: I have even met Mr and Mrs Wilson the very first day I moved in as he came round to look at an issue relating to the back door – which he dealt with promptly."

Fergus Wilson also told us the story of another tenant with boiler problems. "We had another lady who reported her boiler was not working. We got it going, and had an email from her saying it was fine. But half an hour later we had an email from the council about it. She had contacted them at 4.30pm when it was working at 3pm. I gave her notice to quit on the basis that this might happen again in the future."

Wilson says that his last tenant who was on housing benefit had to go this week. "She was a very nice girl, and she didn't owe us a penny. When this situation cropped up earlier this year we had all these people saying 'don't you feel sorry for so-and-so being evicted'. But I'm sorry, she is a casualty of the fact we have decided to come out of this market."

As Money went to press Koper and his daughter were still without hot water. He will now pay for Chivers to replace the sensor, and await eviction. "The trouble is, around here if you want to rent another property they all seem to be owned by the Wilsons."