An agent has been sent to prison after he and his former girlfriend admitting to stealing £92,000 from tenants and landlords.
His ex-girlfriend has been given a suspended sentence.
Peter Bell ran the Enfields franchise in Northampton, where it is understood that Rebecca Kirton also worked for a short while.
Bell admitted 15 charges of theft and dishonesty, while she admitted four charges. The money, thought to be mainly deposits but some rent, totalled £92,000.
The pair admitted their crimes in March, and on Monday this week were sentenced.
Bell was handed a sentence at Northampton Crown Court of three years and three months. He will serve 26 months in jail. He was also disqualified from acting as a company director for five years.
Kirton was given a sentence of four months, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to do 175 hours of unpaid work.
The sentences took into account their guilty pleas.
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing is scheduled for June 19.
The office shut down suddenly in August 2015.
It has now emerged that this was after Enfields, whose headquarters is in Fareham, Hampshire, became aware of complaints from landlords and tenants.
Yesterday director Ian Soulsby told EYE: “That was the first sign of trouble and I paid a surprise visit to the office and effectively got a confession out of him.
“We immediately terminated the franchise and called in police.
“We also called in a reputable local agent, Your Move, handing over the portfolio to them in return for them sorting out the mess. As we had no local presence, we felt this was the best solution for the tenants and landlords concerned.” Soulsby said the arrangement had worked out well.
Enfields also clarified that the actual franchisee of the Northampton office was a company called Paris Lettings, which was run by Peter Bell.
Soulsby added that since the matter was uncovered, Enfields has now tightened up its procedures. “We require all our franchises to hold Client Money Protection insurance and to undergo an independent, external annual audit.”
On Bell’s LinkedIn profile, which can still be seen, it says: “We want to change the public perception of the industry by delivering excellent service to our clients . . . Most importantly we are people you will enjoy working with. We are business people that you will learn from. We are people you can trust.”
https://www.propertyindustryeye.com/shock-as-police-are-called-in-to-investigate-agency/
Annual auditing isn’t enough, automatic and instant notification of monthly reconciliation issues means it is perfectly possible to identify discrepancies month by month.
I know of one client cash account with a £300,000 discrepancy that passes annual audit by the simple process of having a spreadsheet representation of the physical bank account. The auditor rubber stamps the discrepancy and the charade carries on.
Apologies to those “irritated” by my belief that the system is flawed but just because agent have “always done these things” it does not mean they should continue.
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“Apologies to those “irritated” by my belief that the system is flawed but just because agent have “always done these things” it does not mean they should continue”
You sound as though you may have had a similar conversation with the same very high-profile property people that I’ve recently Robert. ‘We know it goes on, it always had, why try and change it, your tiresome calls for change, honesty and integrity are wasting our time and no one else cares.’
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This attitude of not caring about what is right, pervades throughout many ‘industry bodies’ now. If you want to earn respect then show you care and do the right thing!
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Can I ask who you have reported the £300,000 known discrepancy to?
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Various known issues of possible and known unlawful/ illegal activity have been submitted to NTSEAT, TPOS, HMRC, ICO, CMA and NFoPP. Responses have been ‘varied’ to say the least and we are awaiting formal replies on some outstanding issues.
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Now why am I not suprised to hear this and how slow they are, yet we are expected to act immediatley. The whole industry needs a damn good shake up with pro-active policing and not beurocratic form filling.
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I’m having some difficulty in uderstanding how (at time of this post) Robert has amassed 18 dislikes. Many a fraud goes un-noticed for a long time because ” ……. The auditor rubber stamps the discrepancy and the charade carries on.” I have seen this so many times with accountants who have to rely on the information they are supplied as being bonbafide, which is why they will use a clause “audit based on information provided”. Things need to be changed as we see rents and deposits going AWOL on a regular basis, leaving those honourable, law abiding agents with the smear. That means accounting has to be more robust within business’s, even if you don’t like it. CMP is only a plaster that makes good what should not have been allowed in the beginning.
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18 “thumbs down” the mind boggles –
government intervention beckons……..again!!
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Well said Robert – the whole sector is aware of the issue with cash deposits including the “professional bodies” and the scheme providers, yet it continues.
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I dont understand how or why it does?
Narls want to see a signed off audit of our accounts – an accountant sits in for half a day and does random tests of the client account.
They also want copies of the bank statements showing where the money is.
Narls also wants proof from the bank that its client account money and the amount in them. Yes it is once a year but if its shown the client money was moved out then this shows in the audit.
Is the error then with the aduit of the above firm? or the franchiese for not checking the accounts? Its pretty simply to check.
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If you look at the scheme providers including some “professional bodies” there is no mandatory clause to have the deposit money held in a client account, many merely state a segregated account which is very different. in terms of the audit again there is no mandatory audit process, who know of the £2,3 billion of deposits held in these accounts how much of it actually exists?
In terms of the audit again there is no mandatory audit process across the professional bodies and scheme providers, who know’s of the £2,3 billion of deposits held in these accounts how much of it actually exists?
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Ban agents holding deposits. They should be in a custodial scheme, not an insured one (its not your money, period). Copy of “prescribed information” should be confirmed to the tenant only from the custodians not the poacher. 98% problem solved.
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“The money… totalled £92,000. Bell… will serve 26 months in jail.”
That’s a TAX FREE income of £42460p.a for doing bird – and I doubt he’ll have to sew a single mailbag to collect it.
Someone please show me where the deterrent is hidden.
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Worry not PeeBee, thats £4.80 per hour to spend 24 hours a day locked up with a range of undesirables, and that doesnt include paying anything to his partner in crime. I dont see anyone wanting to sign up on those terms.
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It says a great deal about this industry that there are so many dislikes on comments that purely seek to positively protect consumers from fraud and law-abiding agents from being tarred with the same brush. If you believe sticking an anonymous thumbs down on a comment will change things you are probably already being missed from the nursery. Don’t forget to collect teddy from the corner as you head back.
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In fairness, Chris – we maybe shouldn’t assume that the ‘Dislikers’ are actually employed within our industry.
Best instead to hope they are out there doing something – or somebody – else…
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