Paragon Properties and Legal Consultants (Letting Agent)

deanqs

Hi all,

Paragon Properties owe me money from rent of my property and will not pay!

I instructed Paragon Properties to find a tenant and then manage the rental of my property back in May 2013. Paragon came up with a tenant very quickly and placed them in the property carrying out all the necessary paperwork. First impressions were good (The man on the ground was very helpful).

Trouble began when the rent from Paragon Properties was received late (Through no fault of the tenant who paid on time). I called Paragon and spoke with the accounts manager Warren Davies who apologised and a revised payment date was agreed for the 27th of each month, this was confirmed by Warren in an email.

The following 4 months of payments only one was made on or before the 27th of the month as promised. Numerous emails, letters and phone calls were made to Paragon with little avail. I had explained that my mortgage payments were being made late due to the failure of Paragon hoping this would provoke a response, but I was wrong, silence was all I got.

Despite payments being made late they were made, that was until October 2013. Pre-empting that the payment for October was going to be late (As were the others) I made the point of telephoning Paragon before the 27th to check if everything was ready to go. It was at this point I was told by a lady named Becky that all payments go out 10 days after the payment was made by the tenant. I explained the prior agreement made between myself and Warren Davies and asked to speak to him, Warren was unavailable as was Ben who I since have learned is the Managing Director, or so I have been told.

I have called Paragon Properties on 020 3137 7779 over 100 times to speak to Warren Davies and only had the pleasure of speaking to him 3 or 4 times to listen to his excuses as to why I have not been paid. The most common excuse from him is ‘there is a problem with the accounts department”, no apology, no date when my rent will be paid etc etc. I managed to get hold of his mobile number 07415 520412 which he has answered once only. I have had no other route of contacting him other than through the switch board which is a London number but the office is actually in Erdington, Birmingham. Every time I call I get fobbed off by one of the switchboard operators this is either a lady called Becky or a Scottish guy, who do very well at deflecting calls for Mr Warren Davies.

I have sent 3 letters recorded delivery to the address I was given by the call centre. 25 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5LQ. None of these letters have been received. When chasing this up with the Royal Mail, they stated that they have no record of Paragon Properties at this address.

With nowhere to go I cancelled the tenancy agreement with Paragon Properties before the November rent was due. I informed the tenants of the problems (Who are very good tenants) and we have managed to maintain our relationship as landlord / tenant.
I spoke to the consumer helpline who are part of the Citizens Advice Bureau who referred me to Trading Standards who I filed a complaint with about Paragon Propeties. I also spoke to the Property Ombudsman who could find no record of Paragon Properties.

Following this I raised a claim with the small claims court for the recovery of £502.00 for the rent which failed to be paid by Paragon Properties. This cost me £60 with the court. Notice was sent to Paragon which I chased up and actually had the pleasure of speaking to Mr Davies, who then decided to deflect my phone call and state that this issue was now with the legal department and he would no longer speak with me on this matter!
3 weeks went by, the Court had heard nothing from Paragon, I had heard nothing so the matter was moved to Judgement on 12th December 2013. The date today is 21st January 2014 and still nothing has been heard from Paragon. I called Money Claims Online yesterday who I lodged the claim with and asked about the next step which is Warrant. To move this case to Warrant costs £100.00, but as I cannot be sure of the location of Paragon Properties or Warren Davies I am reluctant to spend this additional cash as if they are not at the address I give the money for the Warrant is lost.

All I wanted was to rent my property and have it managed in a professional manner, Paragon Properties have failed to do this on many levels. Do not use them for anything.

I would really appreciate any information people have in regards to Paragon Properties or Warren Davies so that I can track them / him down to collect the monies owed to me. This should not be allowed to happen, and currently it appears that this Organisation / person is getting away with ‘stealing’ from the people who put trust in him.

Also Paragon still have my Tenants deposit which is apparently held in a scheme, I do not know where to begin in trying to get this back.

Look forward to any information. I know I am not the only person who has been treated this way by Paragon.

Thanks

Sandstone

I would suggest getting the tenant to pay you directly, for a start.
As for you debt claim, have you considered filing an insolvency claim against them? The threat of having their business liquidated tends to make people sit up and listen.

theartfullodger

Fire agent, instruct tenant (in writing, keep copy) to pay you direct, sue agent: LBA first them small claims.

Cheers!

deanqs

Sandstone and theartfullodger

I have already cancelled the tenancy agreement with Paragon and now look after the tenants directly, I did this in November after weeks of not being paid by Paragon.

The dilemma I face now is that I need to recover the unpaid rent that Paragon owe me as well as the deposit which they took from my tenants.

I will look into the insolvency claim, any ideas on the process for this?

Also I have found out this morning that the address given for Paragon at 25 Canada Square is a virtual office, therefore I need an address of a property owned by Paragon for collections to take place.

Warren Davies is also owner of another business called Paragon Leisure (Europe) Ltd. They have the same address at 25 Canada Square but through some digging I have found some property that they own.

Can I re-direct the Court to the properties of the other company for collections?


Other than that I am stuck because I have no legitimate address for Paragon Properties.

Thanks

G_M

1) you are expecting too much. Agents never remit the rent straight away - they'll have a process for doing it.
2) As a business person, you should not be totally dependant on the rent to cover your mortgage - where is your contingency fund? Why are you running your business on a shoestring?
3) Before firing the agent, did you read the contract? (NOT the tenancy agreement!) What noice are ou required to give.

Hard to comment without full facts, but I doubt your legal claim will be successful.

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deanqs

G_M

1 - Expecting too much? agents never remit rent straight away? It has now been 3 months. There was an agreement with the Director of this Company that rent would be paid on or before the 27th of each month. This has not been met and now I am out of pocket.

2 - I have not mentioned I had no contingency. If I didn't am I supposed to allow for a letting agent to 'steal' my rent? The point is the rent has been paid by the tenant 3 months ago and not passed on to myself. I am entitled to this money, The letting agent is only there to manage the property, collect the rent, take the fee then pass on to me.

3 - Yes. I read the contract several times. Gave 7 days notice as required, quoted the appropriate clauses within the cancellation letter.

Please let me know what other information you require for you to make comment. Please provide more background in regards to your comment stating my legal claim will be unsuccessful. I cannot understand this. There was a contract, Paragon are in breach, they hold my money and the tenants deposit. How can they not be liable to pay the money they owe?

Thrugelmir

Agent can remit money if the tenant pays on time. Irrespective of the circumstances you now find yourself in. Having no contingency with which to pay the mortgage is a cardinal sin in terms of running a business.

anselld

You say "moved to judgement on 12th December". Does that mean the judgement was in your favour?
In which case your options are ....
https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment

deanqs

Thrugelmir,

So basically the tenant pays the letting agent the rent and the letting agent is under no obligation to pass the rent on to the landlord?

Why is there a contract if this is the case? What protects the landlord from this?

Anselld,

I pushed the case to Judgement as there had been no contact from Paragon to myself or to the Court.

I will look at the link thankyou.

anselld

deanqs wrote: »

I pushed the case to Judgement as there had been no contact from Paragon to myself or to the Court.

... That isn't what I asked. I don't know what you mean by "pushed to Judgement". Either there has been a judgement or there hasn't. If there hasn't then there isn't much more you can do until that happens.

kaspervv02

Paragon Properties where do I start. An absolute joke. they rented our property out last year for us, took 600 deposit from our tenants, which eventually 3 months later they insured with the "my deposit scheme".(after we threatened with the ombudsman) Then we got a letter saying the insurance with "My deposit would expire 1 March. We started to chase the lovely Warren Davies (aka the Scarlett Pimpernell). None of the branch numbers for Paragon now work, none of the mobiles for either Becky or the scotch guy work.So Paragon have disappeared into thin air with our tenants deposit.
The deposit schemes are a waste of time if they don't protect tenants from cowboys like this. If anyone can help us as to where to go. Please let me know.