Perec "Peter" Rachman (16 August 1919 – 29 November 1962) was a Polish-born landlord who operated in Notting Hill, London, England, in the 1950s and early 1960s.

His office was at 91–93 Westbourne Grove, in Bayswater, and the first house he purchased and used for multi-occupation was nearby in the run-down, St Stephen's Gardens, W2.

Much of this area, south of Westbourne Park Road, having become derelict, was compulsorily purchased by Westminster City Council in the late 1960s and was demolished in 1973–74 to make way for the Wessex Gardens estate.

[7][8] According to his biographer, Shirley Green, Rachman moved the protected tenants into a smaller concentration of properties or bought them out to minimise the number of tenancies with statutory rent controls.

[6] In 1960, after Ronnie Kray was imprisoned for 18 months for running a protection racket and related threats, his brother Reggie approached Rachman with a business proposition.

As full details of his criminal activities were revealed, there was a call for new legislation to prevent such practices, led by Ben Parkin, MP for Paddington North, who coined the term "Rachmanism".

The 1989 single "Sheriff Fatman" by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, which rails against slum landlords and their intimidatory tactics used against tenants, mentions Rachman in the lyrics: There's bats in the belfry.

[14] Rachman married his long-standing girlfriend Audrey O'Donnell[15] in March 1960 but remained a compulsive womaniser, maintaining Mandy Rice-Davies as his mistress at 1 Bryanston Mews West, W1,[16][10] where he had previously briefly installed Christine Keeler.