Estate agent secretly tried to let home he should have sold

Estate agent secretly tried to let home he should have sold

16:57 PM, 8th June 2012, About 12 years ago

Text Size

An estate agent tried to make some money on the side by renting an empty home he was trying to sell.

Your Move sales consultant Daniel Morriss, 25, advertised the two-bed house to let online as a furnished let for £500 per month without telling the owner.

His ruse was uncovered when a prospective tenant viewing the home in Sutton, Surrey, met the owner.

The viewer explained Morriss had told them he had inherited the house – and when buyers expressed an interest in the property, he told them it was already under offer.

Morriss was sentenced to four months in jail at Croydon Magistrates Court after admitting to five theft and fraud charges.

Landlord Sukraj Singh Barham was fined £4,000 for ignoring a council order to repair a shared letting property with dangerous electrics and no hot water or heating. The house was also riddled with damp and mould, and had rotten windows.

Barham admitted failing to comply with an improvement order at Sandwell Magistrates Court, West Bromwich, West Midlands. He was also ordered to pay 31,723 costs on top of the fine.

A Wakefield landlord has been fined after ignoring repeated warnings to have gas appliances at his rented property checked for safety.

Landlord Mohammed Hanif, of Brunswick Street, Wakefield, was found guilty of contravening the gas safety regulations and of failing to comply with an improvement notice. He was fined £450 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.

Wakefield Magistrates’ Court heard Hanif ignored requests from the council to provide his tenant with a gas safety certificate for more than a year. He also ignored demands from the council to provide them with copies of the certificate.

Health & Safety Executive inspector Angus Robbins said:”This was willful disregard for the safety of this tenant, who had been left in a vulnerable and potentially dangerous situation. Hanif had several opportunities to call in a professional gas engineer to perform these vital safety checks and each time he chose not to.”


Share This Article


Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now