Archive

Greater regulation of lettings agents, and all other property professionals, is required to ‘finish the job’ of reforming the industry which...

The UK lettings and estate agency is being targeted by crime syndicates in order to launder dirty money. That’s the claim of...

The government’s new Levelling Up White Paper, revealed this morning, includes a radical reshaping of the private rental sector. Section 21 eviction...

An hour-long webinar this week aims to inform agents how to deter property fraud by greater emphasis on compliance, due diligence...

A PropTech firm claims to have saved a client more than £160,000 by preventing a criminal from illegally renting one of...

Property fraud is on the rise and early in 2022 agents will have an opportunity to attend a webinar featuring a...

Property is fast becoming a preferred investing option for advocates of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, an investment company claims.  Sequire Property Investment...

The House of Lords will today discuss the apparently-growing Sex for Rent scandal. Campaigners say a search on websites such as Craigslist...

Consultation begins today on a selective licensing scheme for privately rented housing in 25 wards of Birmingham. Under the suggested scheme, all...

One of the local authorities with the tightest clampdowns on letting agents has issued a statement celebrating its successes. Tower Hamlets council in...

A lettings agent has been jailed for three years for defrauding tenants and landlords out of more than £182,000.  Lee Clarke, 42,...

Airbnb has launched a scheme it calls the UK Trust and Safety Alliance to offer hosts information on health, safety and...

The Citizens Advice consumer charity is warning that fake investment scams are amongst the fraudulent activity that’s on the rise across...

The online lettings platform Mashroom has set out a list of guidelines it’s offering to prospective tenants to avoid them falling...

In an exclusive, the Daily Telegraph says emergency courtrooms will be used after their funding runs out over the comning summer...

A landlord who built unlawful extensions to a family home and squeezed up to 14 people into the rooms has forfeited...

A 24 month community order and 200 hours of unpaid work are the price being paid for an unlawful eviction.  Buy to...

Rightmove is to host an anti-money laundering webinar next week, aimed at lettings and sales agents. The event, which is entitled Five...

The government has formally announced a pause in evictions in England until January 11 at the earliest. The only exceptions to this...

It is thought likely that the new four week lockdown in England coming into effect on Thursday will mean evictions will...

The property market, and therefore, estate agents have been accused of being the 'weak link' in the UK’s money laundering defences. This...

A fake lettings agent has been caught trying to cheat prospective tenants out of £1,500 which she claimed was a deposit...

Much has been made of the backlog of court cases - including landlords’ possession attempts - and now the Ministry of Justice...

A police force is warning potential tenants to check before handing over money after scammers conned people into making rent pre-payments...

Back in March 2019 we covered the story that Weymouth council in Dorset wanted a landlord licensing scheme for a town...

A  buy to let investor has been sentenced to two years in prison after claiming income support despite being a professional portfolio...

A buy to let investor who kept a group of men as slaves – making them work 90-hour weeks in return...

Another council is consulting on introducing a selective licensing scheme - and again it claims it will “create better housing for...

A jailed letting agent in a long-running legal saga has now been told she must repay her victims some £43,000 -...

New research claims that one in every 50 homes in the capital is let on a short-term platform like Airbnb or...

It’s here - the Fifth EU Money Laundering Directive comes into force today with significant challenges and implications for letting agents. The...

A Southampton lettings agency owner has been jailed after defrauding landlords and tenants out of £230,000. Andrew Whitehead has been jailed for...

A rogue landlord has been fined more than £150,000 after failing to rectify safety hazards in a property he let. Latif Rehman...

A landlord has been hit with court fines for a fourth time for failing to properly manage his rental properties.  Landlord Jack...

A rogue landlord and the property company he ran have been fined £22,000 for dishing out ‘sham licences’ to tenants in...

One might have thought that if private rental tenants were as badly treated as some people suggest, housing would be their...

A north of England letting agent who conned home owners out of thousands of pounds has been ordered to pay it back...

An east London lettings agency must pay more than £2,500 after a six-foot-high pile of waste was found fly-tipped on land...

Three criminals have been sentenced after pleading guilty to money laundering involving an online lettings agency. The sentences follow an investigation spearheaded...

A lettings agent jailed in March for taking £220,000 from tenants and landlords is now in trouble over her legal representation. Heather...

A man who claimed he needed a council house but was actually a landlord has been ordered to pay back more...

A buy to let investor has been fined £4,800 and ordered to pay £2,200 in costs for failing to keep his...

A Midlands MP says he has spoken with housing minister Kit Malthouse about the case of a two-branch lettings agency that...

A London council has won one of the largest-ever Proceeds of Crime claims from an unscrupulous buy to let investor. Andre Charles Trepel,...

Cornwall council has confirmed that it’s to use the Proceeds of Crime Act to try to win compensation for victims of...

Prospective tenants are being warned about a fraud scam that cons people into paying an advance fee to rent a property. The...

A buy to let investor who hid families in windowless rooms after failing to get planning permission for a block of...

A lettings agent who stole over £350,000 is reported to have been told to pay back…£1. Local media in the south of...

Leicester is the latest council to begin consultations on selective licensing in six parts of the city - with the threat...

A crooked letting agent took £220,000 from tenants and landlords and has been exposed as buying a home in Florida, renting...

Haringey council is the latest local authority in the capital to create a borough-wide additional licensing scheme for HMOs. It claims the...

A rogue lettings agent has been fined over £72,000 after being found guilty of 15 separate offences relating to three illegally established houses...

The head of a Hertfordshire lettings agency has pleaded guilty to managing a brothel, according to a statement from the police. He’s...

The Money Laundering Regulations require estate agents to risk assess their business relationships and apply an appropriate level of investigation to...

Client Money Protect has gained formal government approval to operate a client money protection scheme when the regulations go live on...

More local authorities have announced that they want to increase the size of the areas covered by their existing selective licensing...

A landlord who left his tenant homeless after changing the locks while he was on holiday has been hit with a...

Sometimes, running a lettings agency can feel as if you’re losing control of client money. Recent cases of property management fraud such...

A Trading Standards team has prosecuted a landlord who allegedly 'knew' criminal activity was taking place in his buy to let...

A court has ordered a husband and wife pair of buy to let investors to pay back £322,282 in illegal income. A...

A local authority claims that a court decision may set a legal precedent for other councils across the UK using the...

A couple from east London who illegally converted a town centre office block into 14 flats have been ordered to pay...

We regularly carry stories about fines for landlords and letting agents who have apparently broken council or national laws - but...

Luton landlord Mervyn Kupshik has been ordered to pay nearly £30,000 to the Local council - and if he doesn’t do...

The former owner of a lettings agency has admitted charges of fraud, false accounting and theft involving some hundreds of thousands...

A man who submitted false VAT returns for the Lincoln franchise branch of Martin & Co for a period of six...

There has been a furious response from landlords and tenants to a police letter which says a local force is not...

There’s a growing call for more police action over tracing a lettings agent who is apparently missing - as is some...

The rental market is being warned of the dangers from unsafe gas and electricity supplies caused by meter-tampering.  Research undertaken by the Grosvenor...

A letting agent who stole a reported £700,000 from clients has been jailed for five years and has been described by...

A self-employed gas fitter has been sentenced to 16 months in prison after he carried out unsafe gas work while falsely...

The former office manager of an estate agency in Scunthorpe conned her employer out of over £34,000, a court has heard. Local...

A tenant who was ripping off other tenants in an overcrowded bungalow "death trap" has been fined tens of thousands of...

A letting agent responsible for a property in Huddersfield which caught fire and killed two young boys has been jailed for...

A gas safety engineer has pleaded guilty with a landlord of falsifying gas safety certificates for a string of private rental...

A newspaper in Northumbria says local police are treating a fire at a lettings agency as a deliberate arson attack. Police are...

A council tax fraud totaling over £2,800 across three properties and over six years has resulted in the buy to let...

How can you use data to benefit and better your business? It’s something you’ll no doubt have asked yourself down the...

The owner of a Plymouth lettings agency is to stand trial in November and faces charges of fraud, false accounting and...

A 10 week consultation period begins today on selective licensing in the central area of Blackpool - with the council threatening...

A couple who illegally converted an office block into 14 flats have been found guilty for disregarding planning laws - and...

The former owner and director of a Plymouth lettings agency are to stand trial on charges of fraud, false accounting and...

The city council in Nottingham claims it has taken action against no fewer than 561 unauthorised To Let boards under powers...

A crooked lettings agent has been ordered to repay thousands of pounds from his pension. As previously reported on Letting Agent Today...

A London council has been the first in the country to use the Proceeds of Crime Act for a breach in...

A fake agent who made thousands from letting out rooms that didn’t exist has been arrested - a month after being...

The former director of a lettings agency in Plymouth is to appear in court in March facing charges of fraud, false...

A letting agent has been spared jail despite stealing over £7,600 from tenants to subsidise his failing business.  Simon Cawley, from Kingsbridge...

A fine of over £29,000 has been imposed on an absentee landlord whose property was said to have put tenants’ lives...

Crooked letting agents and landlords have raided close to £1m from tenancy deposit accounts in 2017, new figures show. Campaigning agent Ajay Jagota,...

A man is reported to have launched “a campaign of harassment” against a lettings agent just an hour after signing a...

The owner of a property firm who reportedly misled tenants and let an illegally converted property has been jailed for 155...

The National Landlords Association reports that Bournemouth council has taken the unusual step of rejecting a proposal to introduce a landlord licensing...

Police officers have seized well over £6,000 worth of cannabis and drug manufacturing equipment after being tipped off by a letting...

A lettings agent who stole thousands of pounds collected from tenants has been jailed for 20 months. Kent Online reports that gambling...

A former lettings agent stole thousands of pounds worth of cash and personal items from homes after conning other agents into...

A rogue landlord in Corby has been ordered to pay over £20,000 and sign up to a Criminal Behaviour Order which...

A man who illegally housed tenants inside his converted garage has been ordered to pay £173,141 by a court.   Amir Golesorkhi turned...

Crooked letting agents have been convicted of stealing almost £700,000 of tenants’ deposits in the first half of 2017.   Campaigning letting agent...

More than 100 criminal prosecutions have been secured against landlords since the start of an enforcement crackdown by Brent council in...

Beleagured housing minister Alok Sharma has been told by a London council that his decision over an application for a borough-wide...

Yet another local authority is considering introducing selective licensing of private rental property. Luton council has issued a statement saying that within...

A lettings firm and a property management company that converted a family home into micro flats have been found guilty of...

Police in Yorkshire are on the look out for empty rental properties which could be used for ‘sting’ operations tackling burglaries...

An agency staff member has received a suspended prison sentence after stealing £11,500 in unclaimed deposits from a branch of Connells.   Amy...

An east London landlord, who was also director of a letting agency, has been forced to pay out over £235,000 for...

A prominent campaigner over the misappropriation of rental deposits has welcomed the news that government proposals to ban letting agent fees...

A landlord who illegally converted a property into seven flats and rented them out without planning permission faces having to repay...

A convicted Surrey letting agent who used his clients’ money to cover his business debts has been ordered to pay £25,000...

A fraudster has been jailed after being convicted on nine counts of fraud, theft and forgery relating to property firms which...

A former administrator at a Savills letting office has admitted embezzling around £16,000 from the firm over a five and a...

The chief executive of an agency in Stoke is offering £500 for information leading to the conviction of individuals who ransacked...

A building firm that carried out illegal building work to create homes to let has been hit with a £250,000 confiscation...

Rent Smart Wales, a controversial scheme that require letting agents to be trained, comes into effect today after a troubled lead...

Brent council in London is seeking the views of agents- as well as landlords, tenants and others - on the extension...

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...

A Bairstow Eves letting agent who stole over £21,000 in tenants’ deposits over two years to pay her own payday loan...

Two landlords must pay a combined total of over £300,000 following legal action by a central London council.    Westminster council claimed that...

A letting agent who stole more than £400,000 from clients has had her sentence appeal dismissed by judges. Amy Williams, who part-owned Williams...

A self-employed property investor and caterer who stole over £70,000 in a tax credit fraud, has been jailed.   Khalid Farid, 59, from...

The problem of cannabis ‘farmers’ using privately rented properties to mass-produce the drug is at its worst in the West Midlands,...

Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward after a letting agency was broken into over the weekend.   At some point between 4.30pm...

A local council has halted proposals to introduce a licensing regime for a town’s privately let properties after what a newspaper called...

Havering council has successfully prosecuted a landlord who must now pay £101,300 for building illegal flats at her property. Jaghtar Khaira was...

A chef who is reported to have battered a letting agent over the head with a cricket bat in a row...

A 24-year-old from Luton has been jailed after being found guilty of six counts of fraud in relation to obtaining properties...

A letting agent who closed his New Malden firm leaving 17 landlords some £27,000 out of pocket has been jailed for...

A managing agent who tried to force out his tenants by filling the stopcock chamber with cement so that they would...

A trio of criminals have been jailed for 18 years after using the cover of a lettings agency to allow them...

Lettings companies and an organised group of criminals described as a “gang of chancers” have been hit with fines and costs...

A tenant has been found guilty of an assault of a letting agency staff member and has been ordered to do...

Police in Scotland are clamping down on what they call “gangster landlords” who are using the lettings sector for money laundering.  A...

The ongoing court case involving a former letting agent has now heard that the nine cases of fraud being considered allegedly...

A lettings and sales agent has admitted to a court that he tried to cheat an elderly pensioner by buying her flat...

A businessman has been jailed for two years for failing to declare and pay tax on income he received from his...

A man has been jailed for 10 years for deliberately running over a tenant during a heated row over a rent...

A local authority has issued a press release branding a landlord as “unscrupulous” after he was ordered to pay £7,300 in...

There’s been a call to ban letting boards from streets near a university campus. Councillors in York say the boards which go...

A landlord and his letting agent who failed to declare they were operating a series of bedsits at an address in...

A council has set up an anti-fraud tool to prevent social housing being illegally sub-let under the pretence of being private...

A rogue landlord has been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £3,343 costs as well as a victim surcharge of £120...

An Oxford landlord has been convicted of unlawfully evicting a tenant after “a campaign of sustained harassment”. Riasat Ali was ordered to...

A landlord has been ordered to pay more than £400,000 after converting a property into flats without permission. Gilbert Garrick let the...

The landlord of a rental property in Harrogate has been fined over £8,200 after pleading guilty to two offences under the Regulatory...

A landlord whose Home in Multiple Occupation was closed down by the local council has been left with a court bill...

New student tenants have been urged to be vigilent and not fall victim to fake online letting agents and landlords. The National...

Police say a man has been arrested on suspicion of fraud following the closure of east of England letting agency Kirby...

Fergus Wilson, the controversial buy to let guru who reportedly owns around 1,000 rental properties, is to stand for Police and...

A couple from Cambridgeshire have been fined £10,000 and ordered to hand over in excess of £75,000 after repeatedly renting out...

A local authority has refused to issue a private landlord licence after it was revealed the applicant had a conviction for...

The publication Environmental Health News has secured the release of files showing the details of hundreds of convicted private landlords in...

A landlord has been ordered to pay a fine and costs of £2,925 for unlawfully evicting a tenant from a house...

An assistant lettings agency manager in Pinner, Middlesex, has been praised by police after her brave response to witnessing an elderly...

The rising phenomenon of agent-rating and review websites is a topic that seems to have caused considerable division and controversy among...

A lettings and sales agent in the Midlands has renewed his appeal for help following an apparent arson attack on his...

A student landlord has been sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay over £12,400 after pleading guilty to...

Father and son rogue landlords have been fined for failing to register their property as a house in multiple occupancy. Sabbir and...

A letting agency accounts clerk recruited to replace an employee dismissed because of theft has now herself been found guilty of...

An agent wrongly accused of fraud has described the “hell” he went through following allegations that money had been stolen from...

The journalism website HoldTheFrontPage says a landlord who tried to sue a weekly newspaper for defamation over its coverage of a...

Poldark, a period drama recently on the BBC, has inspired a new trend dubbed the 'Poldark Effect'.  Rather than an increase in...

A landlord described as a professional opera singer has been ordered to pay more than £15,000 for refusing to comply with...