Britain’s most controversial buy-to-let landlords, Fergus and Judith Wilson, have sold their property empire.

They have achieved a price of £250m for 900 homes in Kent. The deal, which has yet to complete, means that the pair must repay about £80m in their interest-only mortgages.

Wilson said that the properties were sold at market value to individual and institutional foreign investors.

The Wilsons sold 100 homes in their 1,000-strong portfolio in June to Chinese and Indian investors for some £25m.

The couple, both former maths teachers, had previously tried to sell their portfolio from 2008, but without success.

During the last crash, falling house prices meant they had to stay in the market in order to meet mortgage payments of about £350,000 a month.

Wilson, 67, said he would not now be able to get such mortgage deals.

He said: “You couldn’t do now what I did. It’s partly because they will not lend at the higher levels of before.

“If I was starting again I’d be pushed to get a 75% loan as a landlord.”

The Wilsons started building up their property empire in the mid-90s, at one point buying several properties a day.

Always a controversial figure, Wilson evicted tenants on housing benefit last year, saying he preferred eastern European tenants.

He was also fined after being found guilty of assaulting an estate agent.

The pair are not completely quitting the sector, saying they are keeping some ten properties.