Mother and daughter lettings agency fraudsters have been told to expect jail sentences after defrauding landlords and tenants of £266,000 over eight years.
Angela and Elizabeth Treneer, aged 72 and 38 respectively, co-owned Premier Property Management in Truro, Cornwall.
Elizabeth Treneer has already admitted two charges of participating in a fraudulent business and perverting the court of justice; now, this week, her mother has changed an earlier plea to admit fraud by dishonestly abusing her position as a letting agent and receiving £10,000 person gain from the fraud.
In 2017 Premier Property Management was accused by the BBC of owing more than £35,000 to tenants and landlords.
When approached by a BBC journalist on camera, Ann Treneer declined to comment; however, she later told the BBC that the money was in a ring-fenced account from which she claimed she would refund her clients. However, no money was returned.
A subsequent investigation by Cornwall Trading Standards led to the case escalating when further missing monies were reported.
Prior to the BBC programme Premier Property Management had been referred to The Property Ombudsman by several landlords over missing monies.
TPO expelled the agency for failing to pass on rental payments and delaying the hand over of deposits. Premier Property Management failed to pay seven compensation awards and did not respond to TPO's communications.
The mother and daughter will appear in court later this month where they have been told to expect custodial sentences.
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About time we get rid of these fraudulent Agents.
There are apparently LA currently operating without the now compulsory CMP.
How many now illegally operating LA have been shut down by Trading Standards?
I'll tell you precisely zero!
What is the point of this new CMP legislation if LA are able to ignore it with the chances of them being prosecuted hardly likely to occur.
Govt keeps on intoducing new regulations but refuses to fund those who would necessarily prosecute those not complying with the regulations.
So in reality a pointless exercise!!
It really shouldn't be too hard for a local council to detect those LA that are not currently CMP compliant.
It is reckoned that CMP along with the tenant fee ban will see about 30% of LA having to give up.
Substantial numbers of LA are simply not sufficiently financially robust to meet the requirements of CMP.
It will be perhaps no bad thing if as a result if these new regulations that there will be fewer LA.
Those that remain will be the more financially robust.
They will naturally take over the properties of the failing LA.
A smaller number of financially fitter LA would be no bad thing.
Excellent.
Let's hope it is for a very long time and they MUST pay back what they stole....
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