Lettings director sentenced following Trading Standards probe
Linda Murray of Let Me Lettings in Wigan was given a suspended prison sentence after failing to protect deposits and misleading landlords and tenants.
A former director of a lettings company has received a suspended prison sentence for defrauding seven landlords.
Linda Murray, aged 40, who was a director of 12-year-old firm Let Me Lettings in Wigan, was given a 20-month sentence suspended for two years.
£6,000 lost
Wigan Trading Standards, which led the prosecution, received complaints from seven landlords, about nine different properties, with over £6,000 lost due to fraud.
Murray, of Ellerthwaite Road, Windermere, faced eight counts of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006. Her company charged landlords for a service that included managing their properties and taking tenant deposits, Bolton Crown Court heard.
The deposits were supposed to be held in the Deposit Protection Service (DPS).
Guilty plea
Murray pleaded guilty to not placing the money with the DPS, and misleading both landlords and tenants. During her trial it was highlighted by Wigan council lawyer David Birrell that “she even charged landlords a fee for placing their deposits with this tenancy deposit service” but then failed to do so.
Rather than a custodial sentence, she has been given 30 days’ rehabilitation, disqualification from being a company director for seven years, and ordered to pay £3,660 in compensation, The Mail reports.
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