Letting agent to pay £300k+ after guilty plea over consumer protection offences
A letting agent in Oxford has been ordered to pay more than £300,000 after last week pleading guilty to seven consumer protection regulation offences and one of money laundering.
Oxfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards team had launched an investigation into Zulfiqar Hussain, from Charles Lawson Lettings on Cowley Road, after it received more than 60 complaints.
Some complainants said that they had not had their deposits returned to them at the end of the lease. Others said deposits were taken but not refunded when the letting agency could not provide a property. Landlords were meanwhile not paid the rent they were owed.
The £309,303 Hussain was ordered to pay comprised:
- Compensation to victims: £8,167
- Costs: £51,136.40
- Confiscation Order: £250,000
The defendant was also given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work.
If Hussain fails to pay the confiscation order within six months, he could face a three-year prison sentence.
Richard Webb, Acting Head of Oxfordshire's Trading Standards Service, said: "Mr Hussain's business practices caused a lot of distress and loss for tenants and landlords in Oxfordshire. He was in a position of trust, receiving and managing money on behalf of others and he abused this trust.
"We are pleased with the result and in particular the confiscation order which will ensure he has not profited from the practices which caused so much harm for others.”
Cllr Judith Heathcoat, Oxfordshire’s Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities, said: "This outcome reflects the new approach being taken to recovering the proceeds of crime where possible. The circumstances of this case show how important it is that people should not profit from their crimes."
