A landlord who built unlawful extensions to a family home and squeezed up to 14 people into the rooms has forfeited...
Archive
19 February 2021
From: Breaking News

A 24 month community order and 200 hours of unpaid work are the price being paid for an unlawful eviction. Buy to...
15 February 2021
From: Breaking News

Rightmove is to host an anti-money laundering webinar next week, aimed at lettings and sales agents. The event, which is entitled Five...
13 November 2020
From: Breaking News

The government has formally announced a pause in evictions in England until January 11 at the earliest. The only exceptions to this...
06 November 2020
From: Breaking News

It is thought likely that the new four week lockdown in England coming into effect on Thursday will mean evictions will...
02 November 2020
From: Breaking News

The property market, and therefore, estate agents have been accused of being the 'weak link' in the UK’s money laundering defences. This...
29 October 2020
From: Legislation & Compliance

A fake lettings agent has been caught trying to cheat prospective tenants out of £1,500 which she claimed was a deposit...
26 October 2020
From: Breaking News

Much has been made of the backlog of court cases - including landlords’ possession attempts - and now the Ministry of Justice...
24 September 2020
From: Breaking News

A police force is warning potential tenants to check before handing over money after scammers conned people into making rent pre-payments...
23 September 2020
From: Breaking News

Back in March 2019 we covered the story that Weymouth council in Dorset wanted a landlord licensing scheme for a town...
04 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 buy to let investor who kept a group of men as slaves – making them work 90-hour weeks in return...
04 June 2020
From: Breaking News

Another council is consulting on introducing a selective licensing scheme - and again it claims it will “create better housing for...
28 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

New research claims that one in every 50 homes in the capital is let on a short-term platform like Airbnb or...
24 January 2020
From: Breaking News

It’s here - the Fifth EU Money Laundering Directive comes into force today with significant challenges and implications for letting agents. The...
10 January 2020
From: Breaking News

A Southampton lettings agency owner has been jailed after defrauding landlords and tenants out of £230,000. Andrew Whitehead has been jailed for...
19 December 2019
From: Breaking News

A rogue landlord has been fined more than £150,000 after failing to rectify safety hazards in a property he let. Latif Rehman...
02 December 2019
From: Breaking News

A landlord has been hit with court fines for a fourth time for failing to properly manage his rental properties. Landlord Jack...
27 November 2019
From: Breaking News

A rogue landlord and the property company he ran have been fined £22,000 for dishing out ‘sham licences’ to tenants in...
20 November 2019
From: Breaking News

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

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...
21 October 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

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

A buy to let investor has been fined £4,800 and ordered to pay £2,200 in costs for failing to keep his...
19 June 2019
From: Breaking News

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

Prospective tenants are being warned about a fraud scam that cons people into paying an advance fee to rent a property. The...
04 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 lettings agent who stole over £350,000 is reported to have been told to pay back…£1. Local media in the south of...
27 March 2019
From: Breaking News

Leicester is the latest council to begin consultations on selective licensing in six parts of the city - with the threat...
22 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

Haringey council is the latest local authority in the capital to create a borough-wide additional licensing scheme for HMOs. It claims the...
12 March 2019
From: Breaking News

A rogue lettings agent has been fined over £72,000 after being found guilty of 15 separate offences relating to three illegally established houses...
07 March 2019
From: Breaking News

The head of a Hertfordshire lettings agency has pleaded guilty to managing a brothel, according to a statement from the police. He’s...
26 February 2019
From: Breaking News

The Money Laundering Regulations require estate agents to risk assess their business relationships and apply an appropriate level of investigation to...
20 February 2019
From: Sponsored Content

Client Money Protect has gained formal government approval to operate a client money protection scheme when the regulations go live on...
20 February 2019
From: Breaking News

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

Sometimes, running a lettings agency can feel as if you’re losing control of client money. Recent cases of property management fraud such...
07 February 2019
From: Sponsored Content

A Trading Standards team has prosecuted a landlord who allegedly 'knew' criminal activity was taking place in his buy to let...
28 January 2019
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 local authority claims that a court decision may set a legal precedent for other councils across the UK using the...
17 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

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

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

There has been a furious response from landlords and tenants to a police letter which says a local force is not...
25 September 2018
From: Breaking News

There’s a growing call for more police action over tracing a lettings agent who is apparently missing - as is some...
17 September 2018
From: Breaking News

The rental market is being warned of the dangers from unsafe gas and electricity supplies caused by meter-tampering. Research undertaken by the Grosvenor...
20 August 2018
From: Breaking News

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

The former office manager of an estate agency in Scunthorpe conned her employer out of over £34,000, a court has heard. Local...
30 July 2018
From: Breaking News

A tenant who was ripping off other tenants in an overcrowded bungalow "death trap" has been fined tens of thousands of...
23 July 2018
From: Breaking News

A letting agent responsible for a property in Huddersfield which caught fire and killed two young boys has been jailed for...
20 July 2018
From: Breaking News

A gas safety engineer has pleaded guilty with a landlord of falsifying gas safety certificates for a string of private rental...
11 July 2018
From: Breaking News

A newspaper in Northumbria says local police are treating a fire at a lettings agency as a deliberate arson attack. Police are...
27 June 2018
From: Breaking News

A council tax fraud totaling over £2,800 across three properties and over six years has resulted in the buy to let...
05 June 2018
From: Breaking News

How can you use data to benefit and better your business? It’s something you’ll no doubt have asked yourself down the...
21 May 2018
From: Sponsored Content

The owner of a Plymouth lettings agency is to stand trial in November and faces charges of fraud, false accounting and...
27 April 2018
From: Breaking News

A 10 week consultation period begins today on selective licensing in the central area of Blackpool - with the council threatening...
28 March 2018
From: Breaking News

A couple who illegally converted an office block into 14 flats have been found guilty for disregarding planning laws - and...
15 March 2018
From: Breaking News

The former owner and director of a Plymouth lettings agency are to stand trial on charges of fraud, false accounting and...
12 March 2018
From: Breaking News

The city council in Nottingham claims it has taken action against no fewer than 561 unauthorised To Let boards under powers...
14 February 2018
From: Breaking News

A crooked lettings agent has been ordered to repay thousands of pounds from his pension. As previously reported on Letting Agent Today...
12 February 2018
From: Breaking News

A London council has been the first in the country to use the Proceeds of Crime Act for a breach in...
02 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

The former director of a lettings agency in Plymouth is to appear in court in March facing charges of fraud, false...
31 January 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 fine of over £29,000 has been imposed on an absentee landlord whose property was said to have put tenants’ lives...
19 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 man is reported to have launched “a campaign of harassment” against a lettings agent just an hour after signing a...
07 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

The National Landlords Association reports that Bournemouth council has taken the unusual step of rejecting a proposal to introduce a landlord licensing...
10 November 2017
From: Breaking News

Police officers have seized well over £6,000 worth of cannabis and drug manufacturing equipment after being tipped off by a letting...
07 November 2017
From: Breaking News

A lettings agent who stole thousands of pounds collected from tenants has been jailed for 20 months. Kent Online reports that gambling...
16 October 2017
From: Breaking News

A former lettings agent stole thousands of pounds worth of cash and personal items from homes after conning other agents into...
06 October 2017
From: Breaking News

A rogue landlord in Corby has been ordered to pay over £20,000 and sign up to a Criminal Behaviour Order which...
29 August 2017
From: Breaking News

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

More than 100 criminal prosecutions have been secured against landlords since the start of an enforcement crackdown by Brent council in...
25 July 2017
From: Breaking News

Beleagured housing minister Alok Sharma has been told by a London council that his decision over an application for a borough-wide...
20 July 2017
From: Breaking News

Yet another local authority is considering introducing selective licensing of private rental property. Luton council has issued a statement saying that within...
13 July 2017
From: Breaking News

A lettings firm and a property management company that converted a family home into micro flats have been found guilty of...
07 July 2017
From: Breaking News

Police in Yorkshire are on the look out for empty rental properties which could be used for ‘sting’ operations tackling burglaries...
03 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

An east London landlord, who was also director of a letting agency, has been forced to pay out over £235,000 for...
21 April 2017
From: Breaking News

A prominent campaigner over the misappropriation of rental deposits has welcomed the news that government proposals to ban letting agent fees...
18 April 2017
From: Breaking News

A landlord who illegally converted a property into seven flats and rented them out without planning permission faces having to repay...
03 April 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 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 former administrator at a Savills letting office has admitted embezzling around £16,000 from the firm over a five and a...
11 January 2017
From: Breaking News

The chief executive of an agency in Stoke is offering £500 for information leading to the conviction of individuals who ransacked...
23 December 2016
From: Breaking News

A building firm that carried out illegal building work to create homes to let has been hit with a £250,000 confiscation...
12 December 2016
From: Breaking News

Rent Smart Wales, a controversial scheme that require letting agents to be trained, comes into effect today after a troubled lead...
23 November 2016
From: Breaking News

Brent council in London is seeking the views of agents- as well as landlords, tenants and others - on the extension...
24 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

A Bairstow Eves letting agent who stole over £21,000 in tenants’ deposits over two years to pay her own payday loan...
05 October 2016
From: Breaking News

Two landlords must pay a combined total of over £300,000 following legal action by a central London council. Westminster council claimed that...
05 October 2016
From: Breaking News

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...
19 September 2016
From: Breaking News

A self-employed property investor and caterer who stole over £70,000 in a tax credit fraud, has been jailed. Khalid Farid, 59, from...
05 September 2016
From: Breaking News

The problem of cannabis ‘farmers’ using privately rented properties to mass-produce the drug is at its worst in the West Midlands,...
11 August 2016
From: Breaking News

Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward after a letting agency was broken into over the weekend. At some point between 4.30pm...
10 August 2016
From: Breaking News

A local council has halted proposals to introduce a licensing regime for a town’s privately let properties after what a newspaper called...
14 July 2016
From: Breaking News

Havering council has successfully prosecuted a landlord who must now pay £101,300 for building illegal flats at her property. Jaghtar Khaira was...
17 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...
10 May 2016
From: Breaking News

A 24-year-old from Luton has been jailed after being found guilty of six counts of fraud in relation to obtaining properties...
28 April 2016
From: Breaking News

A letting agent who closed his New Malden firm leaving 17 landlords some £27,000 out of pocket has been jailed for...
26 April 2016
From: Breaking News

A managing agent who tried to force out his tenants by filling the stopcock chamber with cement so that they would...
25 April 2016
From: Breaking News

A trio of criminals have been jailed for 18 years after using the cover of a lettings agency to allow them...
13 April 2016
From: Breaking News

Lettings companies and an organised group of criminals described as a “gang of chancers” have been hit with fines and costs...
25 March 2016
From: Breaking News

A tenant has been found guilty of an assault of a letting agency staff member and has been ordered to do...
11 March 2016
From: Breaking News

Police in Scotland are clamping down on what they call “gangster landlords” who are using the lettings sector for money laundering. A...
03 March 2016
From: Breaking News

The ongoing court case involving a former letting agent has now heard that the nine cases of fraud being considered allegedly...
24 February 2016
From: Breaking News

A lettings and sales agent has admitted to a court that he tried to cheat an elderly pensioner by buying her flat...
08 February 2016
From: Breaking News

A businessman has been jailed for two years for failing to declare and pay tax on income he received from his...
30 November 2015
From: Breaking News

A man has been jailed for 10 years for deliberately running over a tenant during a heated row over a rent...
25 November 2015
From: Breaking News

A local authority has issued a press release branding a landlord as “unscrupulous” after he was ordered to pay £7,300 in...
24 November 2015
From: Breaking News

There’s been a call to ban letting boards from streets near a university campus. Councillors in York say the boards which go...
20 November 2015
From: Breaking News

A landlord and his letting agent who failed to declare they were operating a series of bedsits at an address in...
16 November 2015
From: Breaking News

A council has set up an anti-fraud tool to prevent social housing being illegally sub-let under the pretence of being private...
03 November 2015
From: Breaking News

A rogue landlord has been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £3,343 costs as well as a victim surcharge of £120...
02 November 2015
From: Breaking News

An Oxford landlord has been convicted of unlawfully evicting a tenant after “a campaign of sustained harassment”. Riasat Ali was ordered to...
21 October 2015
From: Breaking News

A landlord has been ordered to pay more than £400,000 after converting a property into flats without permission. Gilbert Garrick let the...
13 October 2015
From: Breaking News

The landlord of a rental property in Harrogate has been fined over £8,200 after pleading guilty to two offences under the Regulatory...
12 October 2015
From: Breaking News

A landlord whose Home in Multiple Occupation was closed down by the local council has been left with a court bill...
07 September 2015
From: Breaking News

New student tenants have been urged to be vigilent and not fall victim to fake online letting agents and landlords. The National...
04 September 2015
From: Breaking News

Police say a man has been arrested on suspicion of fraud following the closure of east of England letting agency Kirby...
07 August 2015
From: Breaking News

Fergus Wilson, the controversial buy to let guru who reportedly owns around 1,000 rental properties, is to stand for Police and...
05 August 2015
From: Breaking News

A couple from Cambridgeshire have been fined £10,000 and ordered to hand over in excess of £75,000 after repeatedly renting out...
04 August 2015
From: Breaking News

A local authority has refused to issue a private landlord licence after it was revealed the applicant had a conviction for...
29 July 2015
From: Breaking News

The publication Environmental Health News has secured the release of files showing the details of hundreds of convicted private landlords in...
24 July 2015
From: Breaking News

A landlord has been ordered to pay a fine and costs of £2,925 for unlawfully evicting a tenant from a house...
24 July 2015
From: Breaking News

An assistant lettings agency manager in Pinner, Middlesex, has been praised by police after her brave response to witnessing an elderly...
21 July 2015
From: Breaking News

The rising phenomenon of agent-rating and review websites is a topic that seems to have caused considerable division and controversy among...
10 July 2015
From: Features

A lettings and sales agent in the Midlands has renewed his appeal for help following an apparent arson attack on his...
09 July 2015
From: Breaking News

A student landlord has been sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay over £12,400 after pleading guilty to...
08 July 2015
From: Breaking News

Father and son rogue landlords have been fined for failing to register their property as a house in multiple occupancy. Sabbir and...
29 June 2015
From: Breaking News

A letting agency accounts clerk recruited to replace an employee dismissed because of theft has now herself been found guilty of...
22 June 2015
From: Breaking News

An agent wrongly accused of fraud has described the “hell” he went through following allegations that money had been stolen from...
11 June 2015
From: Breaking News

The journalism website HoldTheFrontPage says a landlord who tried to sue a weekly newspaper for defamation over its coverage of a...
11 June 2015
From: Breaking News

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