Former ‘agent’ jailed for three years over £1m building cons

Richard Nicholls, who said he was an estate agent previously, left a trail of unfinished home improvements.

A property ‘consultant’ was jailed for three years after conning homeowners out of more than £1 million for shoddy building work.

Richard Nicholls, (picture right) who claimed to have started his career as an estate agent, left a line of people with unfinished extensions and home improvements.

He also claimed to be a broker for buyers of HMO properties through his company The Property Advantage.

Nicholls, aged 38, of Hotspur Street, Shrewsbury, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court after a prosecution by Southwark Council. He admitted four charges, including one of fraud and three of fraudulent trading, and was also barred from being a director for six months.

Southwark’s trading standards team said customers reported he took large sums of money up front for work that was not completed, or in some cases not even started.

One customer was forced to spend £150,000 correcting work done by Nicholls.

Online gambling

Nicholls said his background was in estate agency and sales, and admitted having no formal building work qualifications.

Council investigators found that he used £52,000 received from customers for online gambling.

Trish Burls, chair of the National Trading Standards Tri Regional Investigation Team says: “Nicholls preyed on his victims under a veil of lies, false claims and deceit. He deliberately misled people into agreeing to home improvement works that he was not qualified to carry out, leaving victims distressed and out of pocket by tens of thousands of pounds.

“This sentence sends a clear message that, in the long-run, fraudulent trading does not pay – instead, it ends behind bars.”

Main picture: Shropshire Star


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