An agent who committed £30,000 worth of frauds has been spared jail.

Nicholas Dowse, 46, kept thousands of pounds in rents, deposits and service charges, leaving tenants facing eviction and landlords unpaid.

Dowse, who with his wife Adele ran Harmsworths estate agents in Portsmouth, went on lavish holidays to Las Vegas and Egypt.

Prosecuting, David Reid said that while the couple were away, “the employees were left to deal with unpaid gas and electric bills, and an outstanding £4,000 water bill. The internet got cut off as the bill was unpaid”.

When staff contacted Dowse, he lied to them and said: “Don’t worry, everybody has been paid.”

This was despite tenants turning up and saying they had been threatened with eviction.

The frauds included keeping six months of rent for one property; keeping the rent and deposit handed over by a new tenant who had been unapproved by the landlord; and keeping deposits and rents handed over by the previous agent for four properties.

Altogether, between April 2012 and September 2013, Dowse stole £1,430 in deposits, £15,251 in rent and £13,206 in service charges. He pleaded guilty to ten counts of fraud and failure to surrender to custody.

Judge Roger Hetherington sentenced Dowse to 21 months in prison suspended for two years, saying: “You abused your position by defrauding clients in the main who were landlords.”

The course heard Dowse is a carer for his wife and ran into difficulties when she could no longer work at the business.

Dowse was also ordered to pay £1,200 prosecution costs and complete 200 hours of unpaid work, plus pay a £100 victim surcharge.

Harmsworths estate agents opened in 2008 and according to the internet is now permanently closed.

According to referenceline, it scored ten out of ten for excellent reviews. However, out of 22 reviews on allAgents, all but two are damning.

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