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Watchdog/Brendan Kiely

Anyone see watchdog last night? About the letting agents that were taking multiple 'application fees/reservation fees/holding deposits' for the same property and then retaining them when the letting ineevitably fell through for all the applicants?

It made me feel very sad, particularly when they did the segment at the LA owner's house, which was some god-awful footballers wives style mansion. Horrid to think how many deposits might need to be stolen to build a place like that.

From my own experience, this sort of thing (and associated scams) is endemic, if not always so extreme, particularly at the poorer end of the market where people are desperate to secure accomodation.

In my opinion, the guy and half his staff should be in prison, but unfortunately each and every case of this will just be dealt with as a 'civil issue' (or most likely not dealt with at all as it requires the victims to have a fair bit of legal knowledge and persistence to recover the money) this never happens. Despite the fact that there has been clear and systematic fraud. :mad:
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Comments

  • pararct
    pararct Posts: 777 Forumite
    The rich never got rich by playing by the rules.....
    Clearly several criminal offences were committed by the letting agent but will he face charges?
    I doubt it!!

    There will however be enough of a firewall between this agent and Kiely for him to get away with it!!
  • princeofpounds
    princeofpounds Posts: 10,396 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    There will however be enough of a firewall between this agent and Kiely for him to get away with it!!

    True, it's the old !!!!! trick where the fraud cannot be traced from the agent who took the deposit to the boss. After all, the agent might have just taken it for himself (although I doubt that).

    (weird... the well known italian crime syndicate beginning with M seems to be a censored word!)
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Every once in a while we get a tenant or landlord on here saying how great their letting agent is.

    So refreshing.

    Just a shame it's so rare.
  • propertyman
    propertyman Posts: 2,922 Forumite

    (weird... the well known italian crime syndicate beginning with M seems to be a censored word!)

    You mean the Cosa Nostra?

    :D MSE understand that we are just simple business men and dislike our name being used,- it makes us unhappy....this way we do our thing, and they do theirs, Capiche?.
    Stop! Think. Read the small print. Trust nothing and assume that it is your responsibility. That way it rarely goes wrong.
    Actively hunting down the person who invented the imaginary tenure, "share freehold";
    if you can show me one I will produce my daughter's unicorn
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,403 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 13 April 2012 at 9:52AM
    ...........
    (weird... the well known italian crime syndicate beginning with M seems to be a censored word!)

    You mean the M@fia???
  • bmar71n
    bmar71n Posts: 68 Forumite
    if all estate and letting agents were required to be a member of a professional body this would not happen. It is always agents that are not part of bodies that make the whole industry look bad
  • propertyman
    propertyman Posts: 2,922 Forumite
    I know this puts me at odds but why do we need every little step legislated for us? Theft and fraud are one thing....

    Buying or renting a house is a big commitment, and I don't understand why so little value is placed on research and understanding, expecting instead that a detailed process is turned into a smoothie? It is especially sad that this is because people would rather be tweeting.

    I hope people deal with me fairly, but we have no real right to that.

    When registering with an agent applicants should be asking for details of any or all charges in writing.

    And make an educated choice with whom they deal with.
    Stop! Think. Read the small print. Trust nothing and assume that it is your responsibility. That way it rarely goes wrong.
    Actively hunting down the person who invented the imaginary tenure, "share freehold";
    if you can show me one I will produce my daughter's unicorn
  • BitterAndTwisted
    BitterAndTwisted Posts: 22,492 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I didn't see the programme. Which is a pity.

    Where were these shyster agents/criminals based?

    Part of the issue as I see it is that prospective tenants aren't educated about the process which makes them ripe for being ripped off. Perhaps now they've broadcast that clip there may be fewer of them. I do hope so
  • ruggedtoast
    ruggedtoast Posts: 9,819 Forumite
    If you need a house they have you over a barrel. You pay them or it goes to someone else. Sometimes even if you pay them it goes to someone else.

    I once put £300 on a property I was assured would be cleared of all the cluttered landlords furniture and possessions apart from white goods before we moved in. We handed in notice on our old flat, booked movers, all ready to go, called LA again who denied ever saying any such thing.

    We could dump our own furniture, put it in storage, or go whistle. That left us with 5 working days to find another place and down £300. The LA were very smug about it.

    It did work out for the best and our new LAs were lovely. But most of them are dishonest at best.
  • GAH
    GAH Posts: 1,034 Forumite
    bmar71n wrote: »
    if all estate and letting agents were required to be a member of a professional body this would not happen. It is always agents that are not part of bodies that make the whole industry look bad

    This isn't fully true though. At the end of the day their are criminals in every profession. Regulation would certainly tidy the industry up, but at the end of the day you will never stop a lifelong criminal, which exactly what this guy is in the headline.
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