Belvoir branch punished by TPO after refusing to pay award

A Belvoir branch is among six agents now unable to trade after being excluded from its scheme by The Property Ombudsman.

Belvoir London Westminster failed to inspect and manage a property adequately, and breached the ombudsman’s code on numerous occasions.

An award of £600 was made to a landlord, which has not been paid by Belvoir, as well as two other outstanding payments. The agency was run by Silverstone Properties London Ltd, but was later taken over by Belvoir Property Management.

Other agents excluded by the TPO include Kingdom Property Services Ltd of Slough, Berkshire, which failed to hand rent of £1,726 to a landlord. The tenant worked for Kingdom, and had an agreement with the company without the landlord knowing.

The agent, which doesn’t appear to be active any longer, also owes £900 compensation, plus another eight awards to other parties.

Poor works

A cannabis factory was found at a property managed by RB Estates in Reading, Berkshire, which prompted the TPO to award £5,910 against the company, which has been unpaid.

George Proctor & Partners (Anerley), a sales and lettings agent in London, recommended a contractor who carried out poor works on the parquet floor at a property.

The TPO found that the agent did not meet its obligations under Paragraph 14c of the codes – to be prudent in the selection of contractors to carry out work – as it could not provide evidence that it checked the contractor was suitably qualified to work on that type of flooring.

An award of £400 compensation was made, but George Proctor is no longer trading under this name. However, it appears to be trading under Cook Estates Sales and Lettings Ltd from the same address.