Sweet Property Services have stolen Landlords Rent

G_M

Sadly it is all too common. Just watch 'Rogue Traders' on BBC (or similar) and you'll time and again see individuals who close down one Ltd company, leaving debts, and open a new one.

I beleive the only solution is to get a court order prohibeting a named individual from acting as Director for a period of time.

Others have advised on the legal options against the company/individual. Meanwhile you seem to have got control of the tenancy going forward, though as already advised, you are now responsible to the tenant for their deposit even though the agent has the original payment.

This case highlights the importance of careful selection of letting agents.

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?


Finally:

Note that both ARLA and the NAEA have Client Money Protection schemes in case a member agent goes bankrupt. eg
Quote:
The ARLA have the ability to make discretionary grants (up to pre-set limits) if you suffer financial loss due to the bankruptcy or dishonesty of the member and/or their firm...
If in doubt you can check an agent is a genuine member on the relevant website.

eddddy

G_Man2015 wrote: »

I have another letter from them where their trading name is Sweet Lettings Limited and the company number is: 61558128.

This was changed (as pointed out by Bizzybee) on Thursday 10th April 2015 to MYSWEETPROPERTY LIMITED and the company number is now: 09279895. However the address is exactly the same.

Richard Sweet is the director and linked to both

If you want to make a claim against somebody, you've got to be much more systematic and logical.

Which company contractually agreed to collect rent from your tenant and pay it on to you?

In post #6 you said about the company in question "they refer to themselves as Sweet Properties Limited"

So that's who you must claim from.

(And not from any other companies with similar names or similar directors)

FWIW -

1 .As a general point, a company cannot avoid it's debts by changing its name (but based on what you have said, that's irrelevant in this case.)

2. Based on what you say, Sweet Lettings Limited has not changed its Mysweetproperty Ltd. They appear to be two different companies. (but based on what you have said, that's irrelevant in this case)


Edit to add:

Unfortunately, bizzybee seems to have headed off on a bit of a tangent, which may be misleading you.

G_Man2015

Thanks G_M and edddy...this all seems rather more complicated then it should be...apologies if I've confused you too.

I will re-check the whole contract again and also double check with the property ombudsman on Monday too as to the correct co.no to ensure that it all dovetails as it should.

franklee

You checked the deposit is protected right? If not you'd better do that asap so as to limit the penalties for failure to protect. If it was protected ring the scheme to see what the current situation is. If you are lucky it's in a custodial scheme. If not then ask them what if any cover you have.

Also do you have any insurance that will help and/or maybe has legal cover?

agrinnall

franklee wrote: »

You checked the deposit is protected right? If not you'd better do that asap so as to limit the penalties for failure to protect. If it was protected ring the scheme to see what the current situation is. If you are lucky it's in a custodial scheme. If not then ask them what if any cover you have.

Also do you have any insurance that will help and/or maybe has legal cover?

Presumably this was meant to be posted on another thread.

anselld

agrinnall wrote: »

Presumably this was meant to be posted on another thread.

Doubt it. The OP stated that Sweet did a runner with tenants deposits.

The point is that is still a problem for the Landlord as far as non-protection is concerned.

SnooksNJ

G_Man2015 wrote: »

Hi, I'm a landlord in need of some desperate advise please - I rented my property through Sweet Property Services in Rochester Kent, and have had no rent since July 2014.

I have written to the Property Ombudsman and started legal proceedings but the owner Richard Sweet seems to have closed down the business, phone lines and email. He has basically stolen from me and many other landlords, and tenants deposits too.

What can we do to get our money back? Has anyone experienced anything similar?

I'm owed over 4k and not sure what legal action via small claims court will do if he has vanished or declared himself bankrupt?

All advise - is appreciated. Many Thanks in advance.

He shops at Argos.
http://www.yell.com/biz/sweet-property-services-rochester-6369011/

patman99

You may not be able to claim from any other company he sets up, but if you raise an MCOL claim against both the company you were dealing with & Richard Sweet, then you might stand a fair chance of recovering some of your missing money.

I expect he has a property of his own somewhere, so that gives you leverage over him.

Of course, if you are successful, don't forget to make it known to all the other LLs he has ripped-off so they can use the same route to recover their money as well.

Also, you can pay to use the more advanced search facilities on Companies House to see whether this guy is a serial crim. If it appears that he has been setting-up companies and disolving them on a regular basis, then both Trading Standards might want to get involved.

agrinnall

anselld wrote: »

Doubt it. The OP stated that Sweet did a runner with tenants deposits.

The point is that is still a problem for the Landlord as far as non-protection is concerned.

But we know that the deposits weren't protected so I don't see the point of the question that franklee asked. You are of course right that the OP needs to protect the deposits now, and he'll have to find the money from his own resources, but that's a different issue.

franklee

agrinnall wrote: »

But we know that the deposits weren't protected so I don't see the point of the question that franklee asked. You are of course right that the OP needs to protect the deposits now, and he'll have to find the money from his own resources, but that's a different issue.

No the OP said "He has basically stolen from me and many other landlords, and tenants deposits too.". The OP didn't say the deposit isn't protected, so I suggested to check. If it's not in a custodial scheme but IS in an insurance based scheme the agent would still have the cash to run off with but at least he OP won't be facing penalties for non-protection.

If not protected the OP should still do that asap in order to avoid penalties. The sooner he complies the less likely the tenant will take action. Even if the tenant does take action if the landlord as acted to protect the deposit asap after finding the problem the lower the 1-3x deposit penalty is likely to be. If the OP uses an insurance based scheme he won't "have to find the money from his own resources" at the point of protection so long as he's got cash in his own UK bank account.

Suggest the OP rings all the deposit schemes to check first just in case there is some good news there.