A letting agent who defrauded over £230,000 from the landlords and tenants has received a two-year prison sentence.

At Southampton Crown Court Andrew Whitehead pleaded guilty to three counts of fraudulently trading, one count of forging a bank statement and four counts of using forged bank statements.

The prosecution followed an extensive investigation by Southampton City Council’s Trading Standards Service, assisted by Trading Standards Regional Investigation Team.

Whitehead was sole director of The Flat Agency and Michael Brown’s, Property Vibe Ltd and TFAMB.COM Ltd, all trading in Southampton.

Between April 2013 and February 2017, Whitehead was fraudulently trading by failing to pass on rent to landlords, failing to return tenants’ deposits and using the money to pay for business and personal expenditure.

In order to belong to industry trade associations and a tenancy deposit scheme, Whitehead forged a bank statement, which he then used to give the impression client deposits were ring fenced when in fact they were not.

This allowed Whitehead to continue trading while taking very significant sums of money from tenants.

He treated these funds as his own, making significant cash withdrawals and payments towards vehicle finance, mortgages and loans.

When complaints made by tenants and landlords to The Property Ombudsman were upheld, the Ombudsman’s awards and compensation were unpaid.

This led to The Flat Agency, Michael Brown’s Ltd and Property Vibe Ltd being expelled from TPO.

Landlords and tenants struggled to pursue their complaints as the companies moved business premises without informing them.

On passing sentence, the judge HHJ Rowland said that the crime was a sophisticated fraud taking place over a long period of time.