'Deposit fraud' letting agent to be sentenced

A lettings agent who has pleaded guilty to three charges relating to her failure to protect tenants' deposits is to be sentenced on March 18, it has been announced.

Helen Gregory, 56, is a former director of Beechwood Property Portfolio; she was due to be sentenced in Derby Crown Court in October but the decision was deferred.

Gregory was charged back in 2013 with fraud after a court case brought by the Matlock and Chesterfield trading standards office revealed that she allegedly kept tenants' monies which should have been paid into the Deposit Protection Service.

In November 2012 Beechwood landlords and tenants contacted local journalists after failing to track down Gregory.

She was subsequently charged with three counts of fraud relating to three separate companies: Beechwood Lettings LTD, between 1 April 2007 and 30 November 2009; Beechwood Property Portfolio LTD, between 31 May 2007 and 19 October 2012; and Letzlet Ltd between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2012.

Gregory later entered a guilty plea to three charges of engaging in unfair commercial practices. In spring 2012 Estate Agent Today reported that The Property Ombudsman had expelled Letzlet Ltd - trading as Beechwood Lettings - after it failed to pay an award made against it.

Letzlet had failed to pay an award of £1,226, which included £976 in rent owing, and had delayed paying rent into the complainant landlord's account on 12 occasions over a period of 19 months.

It failed to co-operate with the Ombudsman's investigation and also breached the TPO Code of Practice by not having a complaints system in place.