Three rogue directors of a letting agency in London who conned at least landlords and tenants out of more than £105,000 were sentenced last week at Blackfriars Crown Court to two years and four months each in prison.
Mohammed Rayn Mashuk, 42, Mohammed Ibrahim Ali, 37, and Ahmed Ali Syed, 37, who ran north London-based letting agency Crestons, were convicted last month of carrying on business for a fraudulent purpose, as officers of Sirs Associates Ltd, trading as Crestons, based in Islington and neighbouring boroughs.
The trio were finally jailed last week and banned from acting as company directors for the next eight years.
Prosecutor Richard Heller said £105,000 was taken from at least 19 victims who hired Crestons through its offices in Camden, Islington and Spitalfields. He said a series of “phoenix” company names were used to keep the con going between 2013 and 2016, so that when one had to be shut down another identical operation would spring up.
The investigation was triggered by complaints from tenants and landlords who had fallen victim to Crestons.
Following the prosecution, Islington's housing chief Cllr Diarmaid Ward said: “This is a major victory for the council, on behalf of private tenants and landlords not just in Islington and London but across the country – sending the message loud and clear that rogue letting agencies cannot rip off their clients and get away with it.
“Prosecutions like this are rare but vital in the fight for better standards in the private housing market. We won’t stop here.”
The council’s trading standards team is now pursuing confiscation orders to claw back much money from the agents.
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In an ideal world LA should have to pass qualifications; have compulsory CMP and belong to a compulsory scheme similsr to solicitors.
KA deal with vast amounts of money and the temptation is simply yoo much for many LA who can currently set up immediately even if they have just stepped out of prison.
I predict that with theTenant Fee ban soon to be introduced we will be hearing of many other LA doing a runner with client monies.
From a personsl perspective I would NEVER allow a LA to have anything to do with the rent or deposit monies.
I can just as easily check a bsnk account to ascertain whether rent has been paid and I prefer deposit monies being in my bank account rather than a LA.That is why I use mydeposits for deposit protection.
I would pay any LA I chose to use on a monthly invoice basis.
If this wasn't acceptable I wouldn't use that LA.
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