Property: anger at sentence for rental agency fraud

In the UK, courts apply vastly different sentencing policies and the speed of bringing cases to trial in e.g. property crime compared to white collar crime, .

Following recent riots across the UK, courts handed down immediate jail sentences for damage to property, regardless of the value of the property concerned.

However, Brandon Weston (42) and David Christopher Williams (47) who ran Premier Places, a lettings agency with offices in Worcester and nearby Redditch, were sentenced for a long-running fraud with many victims were sentenced for fraud last week, they were not sent to jail - unless they re-offend in the near future.

Weston was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years. That means no jail unless he is convicted of another offence within that time. He was also ordered to serve 250 hours of community service which is, according to the Home Office, to be seen as an alternative to custody. The work is unpaid, must be completed within six months of sentencing and may be carried out at weekends or in the evening so as not to interfere with work or study. Weston pleaded guilty to four charges of fraud between 1 April 2007 and 28 February 2008.

Williams was sentenced to serve eight months, suspended for two years plus 150 hours of community service. He pleaded guilty to three charges of forgery of an accountant's signature.

In sentencing, the Judge at Worcester Crown Court said that Weston was bankrupt and the events had had a devastating effect on his family; also he exhibited genuine remorse.

Weston ran the business; Williams was its bookkeeper.

Prosecuting, barrister Simon Phillips said "The tenants' deposits were supposed to be ring fenced but were lost. Mr Weston used the money to fund other businesses."

According to prosecutors, Weston had interests in a restaurant, "The Glasshouse" in Worcester, a family home, a house in France and seven other houses in Worcester.

For Weston, barrister Daniel White told the Court ""Every asset has been signed over to the prosecution or sold. His life has been turned upside down. He has gone from being an award-winning entrepreneur to a bankrupt. He was running a number of businesses but the recession triggered problems."

But, the court heard, Weston was taking approximately GBP8,500 out of the business every month.

The company was a member of the UK's Tenancy Deposit Scheme which has made good the losses suffered by both tenants and landlords: the company held rental deposits during the course of a tenancy. Under the Tenancy Deposit Scheme rules, they must be held in a designated clients' account which is treated as a trust account. While both tenants and landlords were told that the funds were protected in this way, in fact they were not.

Steve Harriott, the Chief Executive of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, says that the sentences are "a kick in the teeth" for the tenants and landlords who were the victims of the scheme. But, he says, it also served to undermine the excellent work of properly self-regulated agents."

Mr Harriott says it was "shocking" that stealing deposits and making false claims to the accreditation bodies for the lettings industry should result in only a few hours' community service. "Criminals like this should go to jail, not have their sentences suspended. They have defrauded private individuals and brought disrepute to the private rented sector," he said.

"The law requires deposits to be protected through authorised tenancy deposit schemes and this case highlights once again the need for regulation of the private rented sector and for the courts to take these frauds and the protection of consumers more seriously," says Harriott.

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme is run by The Dispute Service, a company formed in 2003 to arbitrate on disputes between landlords, tenants and agents.