Property firm opens on premises of 'missing rent' agency

Local media in Lancashire are reporting that controversial lettings agency Cousins has gone into liquidation - with a new agency set up at the firm's old premises and employing the person who had served as company director.

The Oldham Chronicle says the original business - Cousins and Co (NW) Limited, which had been an independent agency for more than 40 years - was voluntarily wound up by company director Andrew Chadwick on February 17.

In August last year the same newspaper alleged that Cousins had failed to pay landlords who used them to manage properties, with one client claiming to be more than £10,000 out of pocket. A month earlier the same paper reported on a client alleging to be £1,000 out of pocket.

The paper now says it has been contacted by several other people who claimed they were also owed money.

A new company called Cousins England has since been set up in the firm's previous premises. The paper writes that: Cousins England is in Failsworth and Oldham - a separate business with no ties to the liquidated company. It will not offer property management services. Andrew Chadwick is an employee of the new business.