According to Fergus and Judith Wilson, who own a buy-to let property empire, that 

since announcing their intention to sell up and walk away from the sector, that there is a serious interest from three Chinese investors to purchase their 1,000 homes portfolio.

The Wilson's properties are situated in Ashford and Maidstone, which are highly sought after areas in the South East. It is claimed that the investors are willing to pay up to £250 million for the Wilson's empire and that the deal could be concluded within weeks.

Mr Wilson said: 'I had three approaches Friday and Saturday from China. Whoever is ready with the money first and the price we want, that's who we will go with.

'It will get to crunch point where we agree a price and it has to be quick, because property prices are going up all the time. We're likely to go with someone who does not have to raise the money.'

Wilson says that he will accept nothing short of £250 million which he bases on current values from a property website and that he will not accepted staggered payments.

He also said: 'If someone offers me £220million, I'll say no. I'm not desperate to sell – this is not a distressed sale. I'm full of tenants. But it shall break my heart to sell all these properties – my wife says they're like children to us.'

The Wilson's have over the years received a fair amount of media coverage when they issued notices to over 200 tenants who were on benefits. They also said that they preferred hard working Eastern Europeans and would not consider renting to anyone on benefits.

Mr Wilson has appointed an intermediary in charge of the sale and that from July he had put a timetable of three months for a deal to be completed by.

From the £250 million, Wilson said that they should clear £100 million once the £40-45million is repaid to lenders and deductions for taxes and associated fees are taken.

Mr Wilson reports that there have been high levels of interest from consortiums, institutions and overseas investors, however the Chinese bids are the most recent and show a serious intent. He also reports that they have been contacted by some American investors recently.

Any new tenants will be paying on average £1,000 a month for a two bed roomed property, whereas six years ago the average rent pcm was £725.

The Wilsons have also told their existing tenants that if a sale was to go through, then they would be safe as their contracts would be switched to the new owners.

The Wilson's came to prominence in the nineties when it was reported that they were purchasing a property a day to add to their portfolio.