Britain’s biggest buy to let landlord, Fergus Wilson, says new investors now will never be able to enjoy the scale of success he has seen and he warns the buy to let sector itself may be at risk.

Fergus Wilson, along with his wife Judith, at one time owned some 1,000 buy to let properties, mostly in Kent; a year ago we reported that the portfolio was being sold to overseas investors for around £250m. The properties are still believed to be in the process of being sold off.

Now Wilson has told The Guardian’s Patrick Collinson that a combination of tougher mortgage lending rules being introduced on the instruction of the Bank of England – complemented by the demand for higher deposits and evidence of higher rental income to cover mortgage payments – mean that the market is not viable for as many investors in future.

“It will be impossible to achieve in the future what Judith and I achieved. The constraints put on [buy to let] by the government will ensure that. It is keen to ensure there is never a repeat of 2008… it is being cautious, some will argue over-cautious” he says. 

“The days of the small buy to let landlord are numbered. Very many landlords are exiting because of restrictive tax conditions due to hit them” he adds.

The full Guardian piece is here.