Disgraced agency boss disqualified over deposit scandal

A lettings management boss has been disqualified for six years after failing to safeguard over £68,000 worth of tenants’ deposits.

Kelly Louise Forrester was appointed director of Exeter-based Clear Lettings Limited - known as Clear Property - when the company was incorporated in 2007.

But according to the Insolvency Service, from at least June 2016 through to April 2019, Clear Lettings failed to safeguard more than £68,000 worth of tenants’ deposits.

For more than two years, Forrester allowed the company to collect deposits connected to at least 54 properties but did not pay them into an appropriate deposit scheme. 

Instead, the £68,000 was spent on the general running of the company.

The misconduct was uncovered after Clear Lettings entered into liquidation proceedings in April 2019 and the Insolvency Service probed the activities of Kelly Forrester while director of the agency.

Forrester did not dispute that she had caused the failure to act properly with the deposits.

Effective from yesterday she has been banned for six years from acting as a director or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Insolvency Service chief investigator Dave Elliott says: “Her conduct fell short of what is required of a director of a limited liability company and her disqualification will act as a deterrent to others from similar conduct in the future."