21st
Feb 2018
Latest research by Ajay Jagota, a leading renting reform campaigner, shows that in 2017 landlords, letting agents and scam artists were found guilty of stealing £1,162,037 of tenant’s deposits which was an increase of 14% from 2016's £1,018,100.
Worryingly Jagota is claiming that convictions this year for stealing deposits is already more than £400,000 in less than seven weeks.
Last year twenty seven landlords and agents were prosecuted successfully for embezzlement, fraud and stealing tenancy deposits with amounts that ranged from as low as £595 to the highest of £130,000 - an average of £43,038 pre conviction.
With four convictions recorded so far this year the total already stands at £419,439 and the four guilty parties are:
Anthony Nwadike-Spencer of St Albans, convicted of theft for an estimated deposit sub-letting scam of £1799, he received a 15 month prison term.
Simon Cawley of Worcester managed to avoid a prison term when admitting to stealing £7,640 of deposits.
'Fake' landlord James Bennett of Brixton, was found guilty of stealing more than £10,000 worth of deposits on non-existent properties and attempting to flee the country, received a prison term of six years for 17 counts of fraud.
The biggest perpetrator is a Russell Baker of Devon who stole an estimated £400,000 in deposits ....he was given a suspended jail sentence.
Ajay Jagota said: “We’ve had year after year of non-stop tinkering with renting in the UK, but none of it has made the slightest impact. In fact, things are getting worse.
"It’s time for landlords and letting agents to take a stand and say ‘I’m sick of losing money and customers because of a system which doesn’t give any meaningful protection against rent arrears or property damage, but does bring the entire privately rented sector into disrepute’. And that is only possibly through deposit free renting.
"£1.1m might not sound like much when compared to a total deposit bill in excess of £4bn, but as I keep saying, this is only the thefts we know about. Our deposit system doesn’t just make it easy to misappropriate tenant’s cash, it makes it easy to cover your tracks too. At the same time it makes it harder to find and keep good tenants and to make a profit out of renting out property.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, 2018 is time to ditch the deposit.”
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