A star of reality TV show Handcuffed dubbed the ‘alpha male’ has threatened to rent out his property to migrants or prisoners, sparking the ire of neighbours.
Property developer Reuben Wincott recently appeared on the new Channel 4 show where he was given the moniker by host Jonathan Ross.
But since starring in the show, 30-year-old Mr Wincott has become embroiled in a property row with homeowners over his application to redevelop a property into a HMO for eight people.
Homeowners in Eastleigh, Hampshire, say Mr Wincott has threatened them by saying he would turn the property into a HMO for migrants or people fresh out of prison if they continue to fight his application.
The large home previously belonged to an elderly woman, before Mr Wincott secured planning permission to turn it into a HMO for six people.
It is currently intended to be let out to working professionals, but the property developer has faced backlash over a new application to increase its occupancy to eight people.
Neighbours have shared WhatsApp messages from Mr Wincott which appear to show him reminding them how ‘easy’ it would be to fill the property with ‘far less suitable members of society’, including ‘migrants’ or people just released from prison.
One message reads: ‘The worse this situation gets. I’ll have no choice’.
Property developer Reuben Wincott, who recently appeared on Channel 4 reality show Handcuffed, has been accused of threatening his neighbours over a new HMO he is developing
The property in Eastleigh used to belong to an elderly woman, but Mr Wincott wants to turn it into accommodation for eight people
In a second WhatsApp, he added: ‘This is not a threat. This is a reminder of how it is essential to cooperate.’
Mr Wincott appeared on Channel 4’s Handcuffed last week. The show sees strangers with opposing views get handcuffed together for 24 hours a day, with the pair who lasted the longest winning a £100,000 prize.
The developer – described on the show as a ‘gym-buff property developer’ who ’embodies traditional ideals of masculinity’ – was handcuffed to feminist Jo. The couple were the second to be eliminated after just over 24 hours.
Mr Wincott has now been accused of threatening neighbours in a bid to put a halt to their challenge to his application to convert into an eight-person HMO on Archers Road.
He allegedly said to one neighbour in a WhatsApp message: ‘Our business model is professional HMOs – which is what archers will be.
‘However, Please bear in mind. We also do migrant HMOs. Temporary accommodation for MOJ (people who [are] fresh out of prison).
‘My property can easily be turned into this and make even more money than professional[s].
‘The worse this situation gets. I’ll have no choice, but to scrap the high end development, and do low end low budget high risk tennanted [sic] stock.’
In another message, he allegedly said that he’d just rented out a property in Winchester to people ‘fresh out of prison’.
Screenshots shared by neighbours appear to show Mr Wincott threatening to fill the property with ‘far less suitable members of society’ instead of professionals
He went on to say: ‘As stated before, our strategy for archers is high end HMO.
‘However we can easily rent this to far less suitable members of society.
‘This is not a threat. This is a reminder of how it is essential to cooperate.’
Chris Miles, an admin worker, has lived with his wife next door to the property on Archers Road since 2003.
The 60-year-old said: ‘It’s not like we’re opposed to some work being done on the place to make it a couple of flats, that’s fine.’
Mr Miles said that other HMOs on the road seem to house professionals. He added that the HMO would cause trouble for parking on the street.
He said: ‘I think our main concern was you’re doing this in a street which is fully congested with cars, and it’s a family street.’
He added that he’s heard Mr Wincott has been described as an alpha male on the Channel 4 programme.
‘If he’s an alpha male, I think they’re letting the standards down,’ he said.
Simon Winwood, 51, said he and his neigbours no longer feel ‘safe’ as a result of Mr Winwood’s actions
Mr Wincott appeared on Channel 4 reality show Handcuffed where he was dubbed an ‘alpha male’ by host Jonathan Ross
Simon Winwood lives in a ground-floor flat on the other side of the property.
The 51-year-old plasterer, who owns the flat, said: ‘We just don’t feel safe anymore.
‘When you’re threatening to put people out of prison in there and the less desirables. In summer, I want to have the windows open.’
He also worries that the development will block natural light from getting into his flat.
Mr Winwood said he may have to move, even though he’s lived in the area for his whole life.
Speaking about Mr Wincott, he said: ‘You haven’t even been here five minutes and you’ve upset everyone.
‘I just feel uncomfortable in my home now, and I’ve never felt like that.’
The application on the Eastleigh Borough Council planning portal has received 27 objections, and a petition has also been set up by neighbours opposing the plans.
One of the objectors, local Rod Murchie, wrote: ‘Turning a small, 2/3 bedroom terraced house into a house catering for 8 adults is absurd over-development and a step towards the creation of slums, never mind the lack of facilities, services, natural [environment], parking, etc.’
Another local, Lily Metcalf, said that the previous occupant of the property was a ‘single elderly woman who had lived there for 80 years’.
Ms Metcalf said: ‘An 8 person HMO is more like a small hotel/boarding house so completely changes the nature of this area.
‘We need family homes and one reason that this is such a well maintained and cared for part of Eastleigh is proximity to schools, station, town etc make it an appealing prospect for families (including those needing to commute).
‘We are proud of the family-oriented community focused nature of this area established over decades.’
On Mr Wincott’s LinkedIn profile he describes himself as a ‘HMO Developer’ who is ‘fixing the rental market one deal at a time’.
Responding to the claims made against him, Mr Wincott said that HMOs provide a more affordable form of accommodation than self-contained flats.
On the claim that he threatened a neighbour, Mr Wincott said: ‘I was just giving them the reality that if they continue to keep threatening us and will not let us work, then we will have no choice but to cancel the high-end development because of the time schedules, because of the amount of money we will have to spend.’
He added he has been operating a similar HMO in Eastleigh ‘with no complaints’ since last March.
Mr Wincott said: ‘The government doesn’t build enough houses. It’s SME developers like myself, who go through all of this heartache, headache, financial risk, to be able to provide high end accommodation.’
Responding to objections in a document uploaded to the Eastleigh planning portal, HMO Designers wrote on behalf of Mr Wincott that ‘speculation about the character or background of future occupants’ did not carry weight in the consideration of a planning application.
A council meeting where the application is due to be discussed will take place on March 24.
