Estate agency charged with 22 offences under Unfair Trading Regulations
Bournemouth based agency Meridian and one of its directors are alleged to have broken the law during the sales of seven homes.
A family-run independent estate agency in Dorset has been charged with 22 offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations including threatening to withhold a buyer’s access from a property until a fee was paid and allowing an employee to value a property that they had an interest in.
It is also alleged that purchasers of properties were told to pay a commission fee because the vendor didn’t want to pay it, when in reality Meridian had offered a zero per cent commission deal to the vendor.
Dorset firm Illsley & Son Ltd, which trades as Meridian Estate Agents and has branches in Bournemouth and Christchurch, has been in business since 2007.
22 counts
It has been charged with five counts of ‘trader engaging in a commercial practice which is a misleading action containing false information’, three of ‘trader engaging in a commercial practice which is a misleading omission’ and two of ‘trader engaging in a commercial practice which was aggressive’.
34-year-old company director Matthew Illsley has been charged with six counts of ‘trader engage in commercial practice which is a misleading action containing false information’, three of ‘trader engage in a commercial practice which is a misleading omission’ and two of ‘trader engage in a commercial practice which was aggressive’.
The charges related to seven properties including five sales transactions the company handled in Poole and two in Bournemouth.
Meridian Estate Agents continues to trade at its two addresses, and is a member of both NALS and The Property Ombudsman.
