A director of a Markham-based lettings agency has been jailed for 301 days after pleading guilty to a series of fraud charges.
Robert Charles Symons, aged 43, of School Lane, Govilon, Abergavenny, ripped-off tenants with bogus insurance policies, diverting their housing benefit to his own bank account and charging unnecessary rent and fees.
Symons was also disqualified from being a company director for three years by Caerphilly Magistrates’ Court on August 9, 2012, following a 12 month investigation by Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Trading Standards team.
The court was told that Symons was a director of Capitalwest Limited – a lettings agency for residential rental properties in the Caerphilly County Borough, Cardiff and Newport areas.
He was charged with 25 offences under the Fraud Act 2006. He admitted the offences at a previous hearing at Cwmbran Magistrates’ Court.
The charges related to the following trading practices:
Symons’ company website falsely claimed membership of four trade associations which set professional standards for the lettings industry and afford protection to landlords and tenants.
The company website made false statements that tenants’ deposits would be protected with approved Tenancy Protection Schemes which guarantee that tenants will get their deposits back at the end of their tenancy, subject to certain criteria.
Eight tenants’ deposits had not been protected with any of the approved Tenancy Protection Schemes. The value of tenants’ deposits not protected was £3,500.
Three tenants had paid for an insurance policy when in fact no such policy existed. A total of £560 had been paid for insurance.
Two tenants unknowingly had their housing benefit diverted into Symons’ bank account totalling £786, which Symons kept, therefore resulting in the tenants not being able to pay their rent to their landlord.
Two tenants paid rent totalling £1,125, which should have been refunded .
One landlord was asked to pay £189 in management fees, contrary to the contract that had been agreed.
Magistrates were told that during the investigation it became clear that some of the victims were vulnerable, with limited sources of income, and often in very unfortunate personal circumstances.
Initially, Symons was often seen as these tenants’ ‘saviour’ – however as dealings with him continued, many of his tenants and landlords found themselves in precarious positions.
One tenant paid £950 to rent a flat, which he was never allowed to move into. The money was never refunded.
On another occasion, as a result of two landlords having not received the rent paid by tenants to Symons, the landlords terminated their contract with Symons and arranged for their tenant to pay them directly. However, unknown to the tenants, Symons made false statements to their local authority which resulted in the tenants’ housing benefit being paid to Symons. The tenant therefore had no means of paying their rent to the landlord.
Following sentencing, Cllr David Poole, cabinet member for community and leisure services at Caerphilly County Borough Council, said: “While cases like this are extremely rare, the detail of this particular case is truly appalling and I sincerely hope it will act as a deterrent to anyone else who feels that they can behave in this manner. I am pleased that the court has emphasised the seriousness of the offences in the sanctions it has imposed to draw this case to a satisfactory conclusion.”