Three people who were not involved in estate agency work have been banned from the industry.

It is thought that this is the first time this has happened.

Ben Pickering, Mark Cainen and Paul John have been banned by the regulator, the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team.

Banned alongside them is Emma Davey, who was an agent.

All four were involved in a £5m mortgage fraud across south Wales.

Pickering was a film maker and former Tory parliamentary candidate for Swansea, while Cainen was a property developer, and John a mortgage adviser.

Pickering was jailed for six years, Cainen for eight, and John for three years and four months, while Davey was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years plus 200 hours of unpaid work.

They were convicted in December 2014.

Under the Estate Agents Act, non-agents can be banned from the industry in certain circumstances. However, warning orders can only be issued to those who are already agents.

James Monro, team leader at NTSEAT, told EYE: “The Estate Agents Act 1979 gives the regulator the power to issue a prohibition order where (amongst other things) a person/company has committed an offence involving fraud or other dishonesty or violence, or certain offences under the Act, or one in the Estate Agents (Specified Offences) Order 1991.

“This is a very wide power which we have chosen to restrict in general terms to:

• Those currently or previously involved in estate agency work, or an associated profession (e.g. lettings, conveyancing, accounting, solicitors, etc.)
• Those who may wish to engage in such work in the future (e.g. someone who has undergone training but not yet started, or someone employed in an estate agency business but not as an estate agent)
• An associate of the above.

“One of the defendants in the south Wales case was engaged in estate agency work at the time of the offence; the others were associates of hers, and mortgage fraud is (in our opinion) a relevant offence.”

Munro added: “Whilst Davey was the only one who was involved in estate agency work when she was convicted, it was decided that there could be a risk that they may wish to engage in estate agency work in the future and that they would not be considered fit to do so given their convictions.”

Cllr John Powell, Powys County Council’s Cabinet Member responsible for Trading Standards, said: “This should serve as a warning to estate agents and potential estate agents in the country that if they commit an offence involving fraud they could be added to the public register and prohibited from carrying out estate agency work.”

The frauds were carried out between 2003 and 2011 across Swansea and south-west Wales, and involved bogus applications for numerous mortgages.

The conspirators stole and invented identities, set up dozens of different bank accounts, falsified documents such as pay slips, and set up fake companies.

They also had software used by banks to calculate how much to lend based on income.

At sentencing, Davey was given the lightest sentence on the grounds she was involved for only a short period and had been embroiled in the plot by Cainen, with whom she had been in a relationship.