It’s been revealed by Propertymark that HM Revenue & Customs has fined agents over £1.6m for branches of anti-money laundering regulations. The...
Archive
A court has heard that a trusted lettings manager was discovered to have been diverting company funds to her personal bank...
29 July 2024
From: Breaking News
Outstanding council tax arrears have soared according to new government figures. Data from he Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities shows...
21 June 2024
From: Breaking News
Two London agents who traded fraudulently through their lettings business and scammed victims out of over £24,000 have been sentenced. After a...
13 May 2024
From: Breaking News
There’s been a rise of over 400 per cent in the monetary total of fines issued for Right To Rent offences...
15 March 2024
From: Breaking News
Fines for agents and landlords who breach Right To Rent rules increase today from £80 per lodger and £1,000 per occupier...
22 January 2024
From: Breaking News
Two property company bosses have been sentenced following an Insolvency Service investigation which found they had abused a £30,000 Bounce Back...
20 December 2023
From: Breaking News
A fraudster lettings agent must repay £122,922.68 to her old firm within three months - or face yet more time in...
26 June 2023
From: Breaking News
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is today charing a crisis meeting of mortgage lenders, as calls mount for him to take action to...
23 June 2023
From: Breaking News
Trading Standards has stopped a lettings agency owner from being a company director after he defrauded customers by over £80,000. Francis Smart,...
19 June 2023
From: Breaking News
The Competition and Markets Authority is beefing up its enforcement work against illegal cartels and offering a reward of up to...
08 June 2023
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency maintenance manager stole almost £100,000 from her company - but has escaped prison. Farida Mughal was working at the...
19 April 2023
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency manager stole nearly £140,000 from her company to help clear her son’s drug debt. Wendy Dare, 57, is now...
27 March 2023
From: Breaking News
A news website is reporting that a landlord cut the asking rent of a property after social media criticism of its...
22 November 2022
From: Breaking News
With the private rental sector stressed at the prospect of stricter energy efficiency rules in the coming years, the body representing...
02 November 2022
From: Breaking News
The head of the Property Redress Scheme will give agents the lowdown on the recent Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper...
19 October 2022
From: Breaking News
An industry supplier says the recent Right To Rent changes have flown under the radar - and many agents don’t know...
06 October 2022
From: Breaking News
A warrant backed without bail has been issued for the arrest of a lettings agent who failed to appear in court. Gareth Wills...
01 September 2022
From: Breaking News
The former director of a lettings agency has received a suspended jail sentence for making threats of violence against ex-colleagues in...
24 August 2022
From: Breaking News
Inventories are a key tool to ensuring they, and the properties they let, comply with the law. That’s the claim from industry...
04 April 2022
From: Breaking News
A lettings agency employee who diverted over £50,000 of landlords’ money into his own account has been given a suspended sentence. Paul...
08 February 2022
From: Breaking News
A major Select Committee of MPs has launched an enquiry into so-called exempt rental sector accommodation - a niche sector that...
09 December 2021
From: Breaking News
A six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, has been handed to a former lettings agent from Eastbourne for charges of...
16 September 2021
From: Breaking News
A London council has secured banning orders against rogue property agents who were previously fined over £70,000 for letting an unlicensed...
28 May 2021
From: Breaking News
There are just two weeks left for letting agents to register with HM Revenue & Customs if they want to be...
27 May 2021
From: Breaking News
A landlord who persistently broke residential lettings rules has been banned from operating in a landmark legal ruling. Julie Stoddern, of Camborne,...
08 March 2021
From: Breaking News
There are growing calls for so-called ‘exempt accommodation’ to face the same controls that are exerted over the rest of the...
21 December 2020
From: Breaking News
A Labour MP and a newspaper have joined forces to campaign against so-called ‘exempted rental accommodation’. One of Birmingham’s MPs - Jack...
30 November 2020
From: Breaking News
Three lettings agents who kept tenants’ rent instead of passing it to the landlords have been ordered to pay almost £100,000...
30 October 2020
From: Breaking News
A local authority is launching a six month probe into rooms let out but exempt from rental sector regulation. The project is...
22 October 2020
From: Breaking News
A crooked lettings agent stole almost £30,000 from dozens of clients to prevent his business from going bankrupt. Tim Catherall, of Nottinghamshire,...
28 September 2020
From: Breaking News
Media reports from Gateshead claim two brothers opened fire on a lettings agency with an air pistol when they were told they...
11 August 2020
From: Breaking News
A buy to let investor has been sentenced to two years in prison after claiming income support despite being a professional portfolio...
03 August 2020
From: Breaking News
A landlord from Plymouth has been sentenced after failing to maintain gas appliances and failing to have landlord’s gas safety checks...
18 March 2020
From: Breaking News
A landlord has been ordered to pay back no less than £190,000 - equivalent to nine years’ rent - after he...
27 February 2020
From: Breaking News
A jailed letting agent in a long-running legal saga has now been told she must repay her victims some £43,000 -...
25 February 2020
From: Breaking News
A former letting agent has been censured over the handling of tenancy deposits following an investigation by a local council. Andrew Rhys...
10 February 2020
From: Breaking News
A London council tenant who for a period of seven years failed to disclose that he owned three houses, has been...
29 January 2020
From: Breaking News
A landlord has been banned for two and half years after repeatedly putting tenants’ lives at risk by letting unsafe housing. This...
18 December 2019
From: Breaking News
Number 10 briefings to the national media suggest that the scrapping of Section 21 - long talked about by the previous...
17 December 2019
From: Breaking News
A landlord has been ordered to pay almost £20,000 and has been told by a judge that he was meaner than...
10 December 2019
From: Breaking News
A north of England letting agent who conned home owners out of thousands of pounds has been ordered to pay it back...
12 November 2019
From: Breaking News
Three criminals have been sentenced after pleading guilty to money laundering involving an online lettings agency. The sentences follow an investigation spearheaded...
18 October 2019
From: Breaking News
New analysis by Direct Line for Business reveals a surge in the number of police investigations into the theft of electricity,...
17 October 2019
From: Breaking News
Energy market regulator Ofgen is considering an amnesty for tenants and landlords, amongst others, to own up to ‘stealing’ energy through...
23 August 2019
From: Breaking News
A man who claimed he needed a council house but was actually a landlord has been ordered to pay back more...
07 August 2019
From: Breaking News
New guidance from the government on its controversial Right To Rent scheme would see agents and landlords breaking the law if...
05 August 2019
From: Breaking News
Both sides of the Right To Rent debate are squaring up for their latest court battle. Earlier this year the High Court...
11 July 2019
From: Breaking News
The number of landlords admitting to not paying tax has soared in the past year, according to new data. During 2018/2019, 16,110...
08 July 2019
From: Breaking News
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have been given a message from a consortium of groups this morning - Scrap Right To...
24 June 2019
From: Breaking News
A landlord who illegally converted a London home into two flats without planning permission has been given a prison sentence after...
20 June 2019
From: Breaking News
More nightmare tenants have been the subject of investigation in a Channel 5 TV programme to be shown this evening. In the...
17 June 2019
From: Breaking News
A London council has won one of the largest-ever Proceeds of Crime claims from an unscrupulous buy to let investor. Andre Charles Trepel,...
02 May 2019
From: Breaking News
Cornwall council has confirmed that it’s to use the Proceeds of Crime Act to try to win compensation for victims of...
25 April 2019
From: Breaking News
A buy to let investor who hid families in windowless rooms after failing to get planning permission for a block of...
28 March 2019
From: Breaking News
A crooked letting agent took £220,000 from tenants and landlords and has been exposed as buying a home in Florida, renting...
18 March 2019
From: Breaking News
A landlord who left his tenant homeless after changing the locks while he was on holiday has been hit with a...
19 February 2019
From: Breaking News
A buy to let investor who converted three family homes to HMOs without securing planning permission has been jailed for falsifying...
18 February 2019
From: Breaking News
The National Approved Lettings Scheme has taken the unusual step of commenting on, and welcoming, the outcome of a court case...
01 February 2019
From: Breaking News
A crooked lettings agent who illegally pocketed tenants’ deposits to pay for his gambling addiction and lavish lifestyle has been convicted...
24 December 2018
From: Breaking News
A court has ordered a husband and wife pair of buy to let investors to pay back £322,282 in illegal income. A...
18 December 2018
From: Breaking News
A couple from east London who illegally converted a town centre office block into 14 flats have been ordered to pay...
10 December 2018
From: Breaking News
A notorious rogue landlord must pay £1.5m or risk spending up to nine years in prison after what is thought to...
06 December 2018
From: Breaking News
We regularly carry stories about fines for landlords and letting agents who have apparently broken council or national laws - but...
26 November 2018
From: Breaking News
Luton landlord Mervyn Kupshik has been ordered to pay nearly £30,000 to the Local council - and if he doesn’t do...
19 November 2018
From: Breaking News
A man who submitted false VAT returns for the Lincoln franchise branch of Martin & Co for a period of six...
08 October 2018
From: Breaking News
The landlord of an HMO who subjected his tenants to insanitary and unsafe living conditions has been told he will no...
13 September 2018
From: Breaking News
A self-employed gas fitter has been sentenced to 16 months in prison after he carried out unsafe gas work while falsely...
06 August 2018
From: Breaking News
A respected property lawyer says she wants a change in the law to prevent unscrupulous landlords from offering accommodation in return for sex. Liz...
10 July 2018
From: Breaking News
A head tenant who changed the locks on a property that was illegally sublet to no fewer than 35 men has...
22 June 2018
From: Breaking News
The cash value of tenancy deposits crooked landlords and letting agents have been convicted of pocketing in 2018 has already passed...
27 February 2018
From: Breaking News
The director of a lettings agency who who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds to spend on holidays and other luxuries...
16 February 2018
From: Breaking News
A fake agent who made thousands from letting out rooms that didn’t exist has been arrested - a month after being...
01 February 2018
From: Breaking News
A letting agent has been spared jail despite stealing over £7,600 from tenants to subsidise his failing business. Simon Cawley, from Kingsbridge...
29 January 2018
From: Breaking News
A representative of the Landlords’ Union has posted an apology on the Property118 website for accidentally using a photograph of the...
23 January 2018
From: Breaking News
Crooked letting agents and landlords have raided close to £1m from tenancy deposit accounts in 2017, new figures show. Campaigning agent Ajay Jagota,...
29 December 2017
From: Breaking News
A buy to let property owner has received a four month prison sentence for letting out a property he had already...
22 December 2017
From: Breaking News
The owner of a property firm who reportedly misled tenants and let an illegally converted property has been jailed for 155...
29 November 2017
From: Breaking News
Crooked letting agents have been convicted of stealing almost £700,000 of tenants’ deposits in the first half of 2017. Campaigning letting agent...
27 July 2017
From: Breaking News
An agency staff member has received a suspended prison sentence after stealing £11,500 in unclaimed deposits from a branch of Connells. Amy...
02 May 2017
From: Breaking News
A body representing 370 councils in England and Wales wants the government to close a legal loophole which allows the conversion...
12 April 2017
From: Breaking News
A letting agent has been jailed for keeping more than £15,000 in client deposits. Thirugnanaselvam Damayantharan ran See Own Properties in Purley and...
04 April 2017
From: Breaking News
The Residential Landlords’ Association has written to an immigration minister to express its concern over possible ‘further sanctions’ for landlords who...
30 March 2017
From: Breaking News
A convicted Surrey letting agent who used his clients’ money to cover his business debts has been ordered to pay £25,000...
23 February 2017
From: Breaking News
A report out today claims foreigners and Britons without passports, particularly from ethnic minorities, are being discriminated against in the lettings...
13 February 2017
From: Breaking News
A fraudster has been jailed after being convicted on nine counts of fraud, theft and forgery relating to property firms which...
09 February 2017
From: Breaking News
A letting agency specialising in student accommodation in Nottingham city centre and its director have admitted a series of breaches of...
23 January 2017
From: Breaking News
The landlord of a property risked the lives of his tenants and their young family by not undertaking annual safety checks...
19 December 2016
From: Breaking News
New parts of the Immigration Act 2016 come into effect today, consolidating the Right To Rent regulations that came into effect...
01 December 2016
From: Breaking News
Three men have received prison sentences of up to 28 months after a nationwide lettings scam was unearthed by trading standards...
20 October 2016
From: Breaking News
A landlord has been given a suspended prison sentence following his failure to maintain or check the gas fittings in one of his properties. A...
20 October 2016
From: Breaking News
The Association of Residential Letting Agents has responded to the latest government recommendations for tighter controls on the private rental sector...
19 October 2016
From: Breaking News
A man who posed as a letting agent to swindle landlords and tenants has been jailed for just over two years. Legal...
02 August 2016
From: Breaking News
A landlord who waged what a local authority describes as “a war of intimidation” against tenants living in his property has...
19 July 2016
From: Breaking News
A letting agent who scammed dozens of tenants and landlords out of more than £220,000 of rents and deposits has been...
29 June 2016
From: Breaking News
A former letting agent has received a suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to ten counts of fraud. Nicholas Dowse, also known...
23 May 2016
From: Breaking News
A leading trade body says it’s time for the private rental sector to take gas safety more seriously following a spate...
11 May 2016
From: Breaking News
A warning is being issued that the types of mortgages still being extended to buy to let investors risks them becoming...
10 May 2016
From: Breaking News
A chef who is reported to have battered a letting agent over the head with a cricket bat in a row...