Westminster Council places its own agency on Rogue list!

Westminster Council places its own agency on Rogue list!

11:51 AM, 19th February 2018, About 6 years ago 8

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Westminster Council have placed its own lettings agency, CityWest Residential, on Sadiq Khan’s Greater London Authority’s register of rogue landlords and letting agents.

CityWest Residential was fined £15,000 after being found in breach of Section 83 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 for failing to display its letting fees accurately, details of its Client Money Protection scheme and information as to redress on its website.

The agency was the first set up by an AMLO in 2009 and currently manages over 1000 tenancies across Westminster borough. Their website confirms “We are committed to exceptional service and dedicated to reinvesting in the local communities where we operate. A percentage of our overall profit is given back to Westminster City Council and used to provide more affordable housing in the city.”

Director of City West Residential, Oliver Miller, said: “We have accepted and rectified the technical infringements of the Consumer Rights Act identified on our website and have paid in full the associated fines.

“We can confirm that no customer suffered financially as a result of the error and since rectifying the issue we have had confirmation from the Guild of Property Professionals to say that our website is fully compliant.”

A spokesperson for Westminster City Council said: “We fined CityWest Residential in December 2017 for not publishing relevant information on their website, which they simply should have done.

“Although these technical breaches have been remedied we feel it is very important that people have the right information, in this case details of agent’s fees amongst other things, so they can make the best choices for themselves when trying to rent a home.

“The Council holds CityWest Residential to the same high standard it holds all letting agents operating in Westminster, ensuring their customers receive the service they deserve and we will always act in the best interests of local people and consumers.”

Cllr Adam Hug, Labour group leader, said: “This story is just another example of the broken culture at Westminster Council and the deep problems at CityWest Homes. The organisation should be converted into an ‘ethical housing company’ that would work to improve standards in the local private rented sector.

“If Labour wins Westminster in May we will make sure the council uses its full range of powers and services to improve conditions for private renters in our city. We will create a Westminster that works for the many private renters, not the few organisations that seek to exploit them.”


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Comments

terry sullivan

12:26 PM, 19th February 2018, About 6 years ago

£15000 is far too much

James Barnes

14:09 PM, 19th February 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by terry sullivan at 19/02/2018 - 12:26
I'd agree, fines ought to be proportionate to severity of the offence. This sounds like nothing more than an administrative oversight. I suspect the intention was to make an example of them.

Michael Holmes

9:05 AM, 20th February 2018, About 6 years ago

Guess who actually pays the fine ultimately?

TheMaluka

9:30 AM, 20th February 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Michael Holmes at 20/02/2018 - 09:05
It is the end user who pays for everything, fines, taxes, licensing, EPC upgrades etc. The sooner HMG realise this the better - but I'm not holding my breath.

David Lawrenson

9:37 AM, 20th February 2018, About 6 years ago

This does not surprise me.
We wrote a lot of blogs many years ago, looking at these so called "Social Letting Agencies" or "Not For Profit Letting Agencies" and were quite critical of the way they operated and generally doubtful they could ever really make a success of things, mainly because of a lack of there being the right culture in these types of organisations.
You can read our blogs on this here:
http://www.lettingfocus.com/blogs/category/social-letting-agency/
Kind regards
David Lawrenson
http://www.LettingFocus.com
Private Rented Sector Consulting

Luke P

10:12 AM, 20th February 2018, About 6 years ago

Forgive my childishness, but...hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

They really do overestimate their own abilities. It's like they wake up and decide, "I'm gonna do this now." And they expect to be proficient in a complex industry overnight.

Complete. Utter. Idiots.

Larry Sweeney

12:42 PM, 21st February 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Luke P at 20/02/2018 - 10:12
Completely agree Luke. They are idiots but idiots with statutory powers . Even worse. We have Sefton Council trying their hand at commercial activities. They have bought the Strand Shopping centre in Bootle. This obviously will not work out as these honchos have zero understanding of the private sector and the word profit is alien to them. In the meantime while their chief execs all accross the UK pocket more than the PM Council tax bills are going through the roof to pay for their excesses.

philip allen

12:58 PM, 24th February 2018, About 6 years ago

Let he without sin cast the first stone.

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