Rogue letting agent jailed after ripping off landlords in shocking case

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A letting agency boss in the West Midlands has been jailed for two years and four months after ripping off landlords and tenants who used his firm.

Bhavander Singh Sanghera, of Jesson Road, Walsall ran EBS Properties Ltd trading as Martin & Co Wolverhampton but, following a local Trading Standards investigation, was found to have defrauded customer landlords and their tenants as well as telling his staff to make exaggerated maintenance and repair claims.

Following a court hearing, Sanghera was found guilty of three counts of fraud or fraudulent trading, which he had pleaded guilty to, along with four further charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

He has now been sentenced to 28 months in jail for the fraud offences and is awaiting sentencing for the unfair trading offences. He has also been disqualified from acting as a company director for eight years.

Utility bills

The fraud offences involved ‘double charging’ tenants for utility bills at two adjacent rental properties (main picture) owned by Sanghera, and the use of falsified contracts and forged signatures to justify his actions.

Sanghera was also found to have falsified a check-out document to justify withholding a £845 deposit, and ordering employees of his estate agency to add excessive mark-ups on maintenance costs issued to landlords in order for his franchise to meet monthly targets.

Read more about deposit protection law.

The 50-year-old, who also owned a maintenance company, Genuine Interiors, fabricated invoices for work which was not carried out, such as the removal of personal belongings.

In addition, the court heard that friends and family of employees were urged to post fake positive reviews on his firm on social media and sending misleading property photos to a deposit protection scheme in order to justify withheld deposits.

Under the consumer protection from unfair trading offences, the court was told that during 2016, EBS Property did not advise the tenant that the utilities of one property were linked to another and that they would be paying for both utility bills, nor were they informed that the landlord of the property, Sanghera, was also the director of the letting agency.

Sanghera’s firm was also found to have issued retaliatory eviction notices after tenants complained to Wolverhampton Council.

Trust broken

Cllr Steve Evans (pictured), cabinet member for city environment and climate change, adds: “People put their trust in agencies like the one run by Sanghera to find them a home.

“They should not have that trust broken by the type of unscrupulous behaviour this case has highlighted.

“Crimes of this sort have such a huge financial and emotional impact on their victims. 

“Sanghera has shown a repeated pattern of fraudulent behaviour at the financial and emotional expense of both his tenants and his staff. I’m very pleased that justice has now been served in this case.”

Read more about rogue letting agents.

View Full Article: Rogue letting agent jailed after ripping off landlords in shocking case

NEW: Huge reform of estate agency firms STILL being considered four years on

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The government has confirmed it is still deliberating whether to bring in property agency qualifications and minimum standards in the sector, almost four years after the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) published its recommendations.

RoPA’s report outlined proposals back in July 2019 after it was tasked to advise the government on a new regulatory framework to help raise professional standards in the industry.

Housing Minister Lucy Frazer (main picture) says she is considering the recommendations; last May, Frazer’s predecessor Eddie Hughes, gave the same response.

Poor service

Answering a written question from Conservative MP Tom Hunt, she said the government was committed to making sure that homeowners and tenants were protected from abuse and poor service.

“This commitment includes raising professionalism and standards amongst property agents (letting, estate and managing agents), protecting consumers while defending the reputation of good agents from the actions of rogue operatives.”

RoPA’s report made recommendations on a model for an independent property agent regulator, a single, mandatory and legally enforceable code of practice for property agents and a system of minimum entry requirements and continuing professional development for property agents.

Frazer added: “We welcome the ongoing work being undertaken by the industry itself to raise professionalism and standards across the sector, including on codes of practice for property agents. We will continue to work with industry on improving best practice.”

Propertymark has called on the government to respond to the report and implement its recommendations.

View Full Article: NEW: Huge reform of estate agency firms STILL being considered four years on

Poor areas drive PRS growth – with record rent paid in 2022

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An analysis of the latest census data shows that between 2011 and 2021 the number of households renting privately increased by 151,800 in the 10% most deprived areas of England and Wales, compared to an 80,100 rise in the 10% least deprived areas.

View Full Article: Poor areas drive PRS growth – with record rent paid in 2022

EPC and legal obligations?

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Hello, We all know that you are legally required to obtain an EPC on a property you let, and you are also required to give a copy to the tenant before they enter and AST etc…but…

Are you legally required to actually show this to the Council?

View Full Article: EPC and legal obligations?

Leaseholder refusing to contribute towards ‘Major works’?

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Hello, Firstly thanks for taking the time to read my article/questions.

I have recently acquired a property and freehold which comprises of 5, 1 bedroom flats. 3 of which are owned by myself two of which have separate individual owners.

View Full Article: Leaseholder refusing to contribute towards ‘Major works’?

LATEST: Ministers say new PRS Ombudsman must tackle mould complaints

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The Government has announced plans to tackle mould within the private and social housing sectors through updated guidance and iniatives.

Announced late on Friday before a midnight deadline set by the Coroner during the inquest looking into the death of toddler Awaab Ishak, the initiatives from both the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department of Health confirm that the private rented sector’s new housing ombudsman will lead the battle against mould.

A single Housing Ombudsman for the private rented sector (PRS) has been on the table since June last year when the ‘Fairer Renting’ White Paper was launched, a document that will form the basis of the Renters Reform Act due to be introduced to parliament this year.

This new ombudsman will oversee complaints by private tenants about a range of issues including mould and is one of several proposals and updates published by the Government over the weekend, the rest covering the social rented sector.

This announcement follows the recent inquest into the death of toddler Awaab Ishak during which the Coroner noted that the extreme mould within his family home was a major contributor to the tragedy.

Sharp relief

The joint statement from secretaries of state Michael Gove and Steve Barclays says: “Awaab’s case has thrown into sharp relief the need for renewed action to ensure that every landlord in the country makes certain that their tenants are housed in decent homes, and they are treated with dignity and fairness.”

Other measures include ensuring mould is included within the existing ‘housing health and safety rating system’, specifying time limits landlords must meet on investigating hazards, and acting where there are health concerns.

Ben Beadle, (pictured) Chief Executive of the NRLA says: “The tragic death of Awaab Ishtak provides a stark reminder that tenants should rightly expect that wherever they call home is safe and secure. Most private landlords provider this.

“Whilst we work constructively on the Government’s review, at present there are almost 170 laws affecting the private rented sector and ministers are planning to develop a Decent Homes Standard. This is not an unregulated market. The problem is that a minority of rogue and criminal landlords are able to get away with their actions because of a lack of resources for councils to enforce [these laws].”

Lifestyle

Richard Blakeway (pictured), the social Housing Ombudsman for England, appeared on Good Morning Britain ahead of the Government’s statement, saying that some social landlords are wrong to blame tenants for ‘lifestyle choices’ that help create mould.

But his comments prompted one private landlord, Terri Baxendall, to say on social media that social tenants still have ‘maintenance duties’ when living in properties.

As LandlordZONE columnist Tom Entwistle recently pointed out, the energy price crisis is likely to see more tenants across both social and private sectors turning off their heating to save money, which in turn will increase problems with mould.

View Full Article: LATEST: Ministers say new PRS Ombudsman must tackle mould complaints

Room for optimism in rental market despite agents’ gloomy forecast

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The majority of letting agents expect to see more landlords leave the market in 2023, against a backdrop of rising arrears and falling house prices.

Goodlord reveals that 58% of more than 160 agents surveyed believe that landlord volumes will drop this year, partly due to the pace of regulatory change. “A lot of the new policies have been deterring or restricting supply – encouraging landlords to look elsewhere for how to deploy their capital,” says CEO William Reeve. “This obviously has an impact on stock.”

Arrears volumes

Agents believe inflationary pressures and the cost-of-living crisis will also be felt in arrears volumes, with 66% expecting to see rent arrears increase by up to 5% during 2023.

Michael Cook, group MD at Leaders Romans Group, believes that a lack of quality rental stock means improved yields due to increasing rental prices and reducing sales prices. It expects to see a reduction in the number of landlords selling, as a result, which will help supply. “The buying landscape will still force many potential tenants into the already-congested rental space, with supply unlikely to catch up to the demand quickly enough,” he adds.

Frustrated sellers

Chestertons says a significant proportion of the new rental properties coming to the market were properties that had previously been up for sale, suggesting that sellers are reacting to the slowing sales market by switching to the rental market. These ‘frustrated sellers’ have added much needed supply to the rental market, resulting in some landlords having to rethink the level of rent they can ask. “We expect these stabilising trends to carry on well into 2023, meaning that rental price growth should slow to around 5% by the end of 2023,” adds COO Richard Davies.

View Full Article: Room for optimism in rental market despite agents’ gloomy forecast

Government urged to ban sale of gas boilers within a decade

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New and replacement gas boilers should be banned by 2033, two years earlier than current plans, according to the government’s net zero tsar.

Conservative MP Chris Skidmore believes it should make the decision to decarbonise homes by next year to help the country meet its climate change goals. His review found that the average household could save between £400 and £6,000 a year through the move to net zero, mainly from switching petrol and diesel for electric cars, as well as swapping boilers for heat pumps.

Upfront price

About 1.8 million gas boilers are sold annually in the UK, compared with only 55,000 heat pumps last year. Skidmore said the earlier date would reduce the upfront price of the pumps, which cost between £7,000 and £13,000, according to The Times.

“Bringing the mandate of no new gas boilers forward from 2035 to 2033 helps households save money by doing this sooner rather than later,” Skidmore said.

Longer-term funding

Such a move would radically update the government’s target of installing 600,000 heat pumps annually by 2028.

Government should also mandate landlords to include ‘average bill cost’ alongside EPC ratings when letting out a property, according to the report. This would help renters understand what costs to expect, while also helping to put a premium on energy efficient homes.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme has already faced criticism that landlords would need longer-term funding to help them meet energy efficiency targets. Using BUS, they can get £6,000 off the cost and installation of a ground source heat pump, £5,000 for an air source heat pump, and £5,000 for a biomass boiler.

The NRLA recently slammed the government for having no chance of meeting the deadline to improve EPC ratings (improving new tenancies to a band C by 2025 and existing tenancies by 2028) following its failure to respond to a consultation which closed two years ago.

View Full Article: Government urged to ban sale of gas boilers within a decade

Alarm as Scottish ministers look to extend rent controls

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The Scottish government has admitted it is considering long-term proposals for rent control after the Cost of Living Act has expired.

Minister for Tenants’ Rights, Patrick Harvie, told MSPs he was satisfied that the moratorium on evictions and the cap on rents in the private rented sector would continue until at least the end of March, but that he expected the rent cap to extend beyond that date. As he delivered the first report in Holyrood – covering October to December 2022 – Harvie said unprecedented economic challenges were continuing to impact on renters and that the measures remained “necessary and proportionate”.

Cliff edge

He added there needed to be a bridge between the emergency legislation and the longer-term work. “The changes to the rent adjudication methodology that the emergency act allows us to take forward in future will achieve that. If we simply return from the rent cap to open-market considerations, that could create an extremely damaging cliff edge.”

Some MSPs expressed concern that there had been a marked increase in the number of landlords who were seeking to sell their properties. However, Harvie insisted: “If we had not taken action, tenants in Scotland would have been lumbered with the same kind of excessive, eye-watering increases that tenants south of the border are living with.”

Damage ignored

Propertymark says the Scottish Government has again failed to acknowledge the damage that legislation capping rents is causing. Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns, adds: “Unlike for providers of social rented accommodation there has been no task and finish group for the private rented sector to formally raise our concerns.

“Alarmingly, the Minister also failed to acknowledge the impact of planned future legislation for the private rented sector that also includes energy efficiency targets that many landlords will struggle to afford.”

View Full Article: Alarm as Scottish ministers look to extend rent controls

Tenant to pay 6 months upfront rent but with guarantor?

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Hello. I am planning to rent out my property on ATS for the entire 12 months.

The potential tenant, whom I really like, failed the reference check, and the guarantor has agreed to cover only 6 months.

So we are currently looking at the following schedule of payment with this Tenant: 1 month deposit plus 6 months advance rent;

View Full Article: Tenant to pay 6 months upfront rent but with guarantor?