Rogue letting agent jailed after stealing holding deposits worth £15,000

A “thoroughly dishonest” rogue letting agent in Croydon, South London has been jailed for failing to pay back holding deposits often for the same property and totalling £15,000 following a two-week trial. Thirugnanaselvam Damayantharan, also known as Mr Damo, was sentenced to 19 months in jail for the offences, which included taking multiple deposits for the same property, letting properties he had no authority to do so and failing to return deposits when tenancies fell through, despite being through no fault of the tenant. At the court hearing the letting agent denied two counts of fraudulently trading as two companies – See Own Properties and My Lawn Estates – over the past six years, although the unreturned holdings deposits related to 33 properties. See Own Properties, which is still trading but the annual accounts for which are overdue, is registered at a Regus office facility in central Croydon (pictured, left). My Lawn Estates, which advertised on Rightmove but has now been removed but is still listed as ‘active’ at Companies House, was expelled from The Property Ombudsman in 2015 for two years. During the case, which was brought by Croydon Council Trading Standards, the court heard that Damayantharan, who was…

Read More »