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Rogue letting agent has appealed quashed
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
A rogue letting agent who stole more than £400,000 from clients has unsurprisingly had her sentence appeal dismissed in court.
Amy Williams, part-owner of Williams & Young Ltd in the West Midlands, had her jail term upheld at London’s Appeal Court.
Stealing
Williams stole money from the letting agency alongside her partner Glenn Austin, who was handed a sentence of two-and-a-half years for his role in the criminal activity.
The stolen funds amounted to £408,800 and were used to perpetuate Mr Austin’s gambling addiction.
Their deceit was first uncovered in 2015, when tenants and landlords both started to issue complaints to Birmingham’s Trading Standards and Action Fraud departments. Williams was found to have taken deposits and advanced rents from would-be tenants, but never passed this money on to landlords themselves.
Additionally, she took money from different people, for the same properties.
Rogue letting agent has appealed quashed
Thrown out
After being sentenced in April , Williams appealed her sentence, with this being thrown out at London’s Appeal Court on September 16th.
Williams claimed that her sentence was unfair considering that of her partner’s, who claimed she was involved in 80% of the losses caused.
Mr Justice Edis, who presided over the case, said that Austin was fortunate to avoid a longer sentence for his role in the scam.
Chris Neville, head of Trading Standards for Birmingham City Council, said, ‘this fraud was not only heartless, leaving landlords and tenants out of pocket, but it was foolish-using company funds to finance a string of bets to raise more money.’[1]
‘Tenants paid deposits and advance rents to Williams & Young Ltd in good faith and in some cases, landlords were unaware this was the case as the money had not been passed on,’ he added.[1]
As a result of her actions, William’s membership of the National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Letting Agents was terminated.
[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/9/agent-who-stole-thousands-from-clients-has-sentence-appeal-dismissed
