A letting agent who defrauded customers to the tune of £68,000 could barely read or write – but nevertheless was said in court to have passed his ARLA exams.
However, in an extraordinary twist, last night it emerged that Roy Jackson had never been a member of ARLA and had not passed any exams. Jackson had, however, attempted to join and may have then falsely claimed to belong to ARLA.
Those who lost money will not be able to recoup it via ARLA’s insistence on mandatory client money protection insurance.
ARLA managing director David Cox said the scandal underlined the need for industry regulation.
Jackson has now been jailed for 20 months. It also now appears that the court may have been misled as to his ARLA membership.
The judge who sentenced him this week said it was clear from a report that an educational psychologist had given Jackson help to pass his exams.
Judge Peters, Assistant Judge Advocate General, said: “Should the Association of Letting Agents [sic] have certified you? Probably not.”
She told him: ““You never should have been running a business.
“You clearly have the gift of the gab. Gift of the gab is what you had. The ability to run a business is not what you had.
“You are quite frankly a dishonest man and there’s no getting round that.”
Jackson’s own defence said he was someone who “should never have been allowed to have got into that situation in a regulated industry”.
Jackson, 39, ran Suffolk Lettings in Ipswich, which closed suddenly at the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013, while Jackson himself seemed to vanish.
A police investigation began after it emerged that there had been fraud on a substantial scale.
However, far from disappearing, Jackson went on to work for two more agents – first,] Bairstow Eves, part of Countrywide, followed by Martyn Gerrard, in London.
Both were entirely unsuspecting and Jackson was still working for Martyn Gerrard as a lettings manager when he went on holiday to Ibiza and was arrested at Stansted Airport.
The first that Martyn Gerrard – the highly reputable family firm whose boss is Simon Gerrard, current NAEA President – knew of any problems was when Jackson failed to go back to work when his holiday was over.
In reality, he was on remand in jail.
At his sentencing, Roger Thomson, defending, said that Suffolk Lettings had been run by Jackson with help from his wife. However, the relationship with his wife broke down, and the business ran into difficulties, with Jackson “dipping into client account monies”.
A total of 31 people were defrauded, with 50 properties involved.
In a statement yesterday evening, ARLA managing director David Cox told Eye: “ARLA can confirm that Roy Jackson is not, and never has been, a member of ARLA.
“Although Roy Jackson did attempt to gain ARLA membership, he never passed the examination process and therefore did not receive the qualification level required for membership.
“Despite this, it seems that unfortunately he has falsely been trading as an ARLA agent, when he is in fact not.
“This would explain why his tenants’ and landlords’ money was not secure – ARLA agents are covered by a Client Money Protection Scheme, and also a mandatory redress scheme which gives the consumer an added level of protection when something, such as this, goes wrong.
“This is also the reason that ARLA wasn’t able to warn landlords.
“As Roy Jackson was not an official member, we were unaware of his activities. If tenants have any doubt as to the authenticity of ARLA membership belonging to an agent, we urge them to contact ARLA who will be able to clarify and investigate this.
“The case of Roy Jackson reiterates the need for regulation within the property sector.
“The industry is currently not regulated. Anyone is able to open trade as a lettings agent or landlord, which clearly presents a number of risks as highlighted by this case, whereby thousands of pounds worth of customers’ money has been stolen.
“If the industry was fully regulated, Roy Jackson would never have been able to abscond with this money.
“ARLA strives for better standards and consumer protection in the private rented sector.
“The benefit of using an ARLA agent is that tenants may be reassured they are dealing with a qualified letting agent or landlord who is able to provide the best level of advice and service, under the knowledge that any money which exchanges hands is protected.”
A spokesperson for Bairstow Eves said: “We confirm that Mr Jackson was previously employed by Bairstow Eves and his employment came to an end during February 2014.
“We were not aware of a criminal case against him and were not contacted by the police in relation to this matter.”
"The benefit of using an ARLA agent is that tenants may be reassured they are dealing with a qualified letting agent or landlord who is able to provide the best level of advice and service, under the knowledge that any money which exchanges hands is protected"
I have no doubt some landlords and tenants may feel reassured by this but most of them haven't even heard of ARLA
It also irritates me that just because an agency is not a member of ARLA, it doesn't mean they are dishonest. As well as being an agent, I run events for letting agents to help keep them on track so why do I need to be a member of ARLA?
1 or 2 incidents like this every year may be too many, but not enough to justify every agent being forced to join a scheme such as ARLA.
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Polite question, Mark; "Why wouldn't you want to join though?" I am a member but sometimes wonder why. So interested to hear why you aren't / don't want to be ?
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I hope you don't mind a reply other than from Mark.
When ARLA and NAEA came together under NFoPP NAEA members could opt to get no strings membership of ARLA simply by ticking a box and coughing up another £170. In an instant everything ARLA had stood for up to that point was blown clean out of the water. All of a sudden practical experience of Lettings and management and the associated barriers to membership of ARLA were removed and with it *** years of respect and credibility.
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No problem cmRENTandSALES – 🙂
We did explore the possibility some 4/5 years ago and again recently to see if things have changed and I was not disappointed to see they hadn't.
One of the questions I asked as we all do is, what do I get for my cash? I got the usual sales talk but when I probed they started to squirm a little. I was not trying to be clever or try to embarrass them I just wanted to know I was getting value for money. One of the questions I asked was "Do you visit periodically to make sure my paperwork is up to date and compliant along with my procedures? The answer was no unless it is flagged up by either my accounts or a whistle blower, but then that has nothing to do with procedures??
I have no doubt that organisations like ARLA do provide a service but having spent 30 years in the public sector as well as being a landlord of some 29 years (on and off) i want a bit more. I get that from the NLA and if I ever need CMP as a requirement to trade, I'll buy it from a company in London that allows me to pay either annually or monthly.
I hope that has answered your question but do ask anything else. Like you, I'm sure, I'm a great believer in value for money and that is what my next event will be concentrating on among other things
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Thanks Nick. I know we can get CMP elsewhere these days and I know that Landlords don't seem to care if you're an ARLA member or not. We get a few ask us each year but not enough to cover the costs of being one (we're NAEA too). I always felt that one day it would make a difference amongst us and the non-ARLA competition but haven't seen it yet after about 7 years of membership. The staff training and legal updates at meetings are certainly helpful, but I appreciate I could also get this elsewhere… 4 branches and 13 NFOPP staff members is getting quite expensive now !!
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You could always join UKALA? I haven't joined them either but if it becomes a requirement I may 🙂
On the face of it they are less bureaucratic and as I understand it they don't need to see audited accounts from a chartered accountant which I guess gets expensive! But I stand to be corrected 🙂
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We have been on the High Street for 15 years, am full Ombudsman Members and actually follow the code, have CMP through the Ombudsman, Keep all our tenant Deposits in the Custodial DPS, regularly check all our paperwork for legal compliance, am signed up with Data Protection and AML and keenly follow and comply with new requirements as and when introduced or cited. On a daily basis we are competing with many ARLA agents (or 'licensed' agents as they like to fraudulently refer to themselves as) who regularly and wantonly over value, make up offers, list fake properties on the portals, hold their insured deposits for ages after tenants vacate, make erroneous charges, and poorly manage rental stock. ARLA do nothing proactive to police their members conduct and are thus just legitimising many appalling agents (the public don't make complaints as it is what they already sadly expect of our industry). In short ARLA expect nothing we don't do and do not check that those they Bond as members do comply. They offer nothing to us aside from an additional bill! We want this industry regulated but for it to be done in a way that actually rewards and checks proper conduct and not a toothless dog that uses agents as a revenue stream.
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Here Here! I agree!
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