Property Mole » fraud

Capita closes in on unlawful sub-lets

Gill Montia — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:48:20 +0000

Capita has recently launched a tenancy verification service aimed at supporting local councils in identify cases where social homes have been sublet.
According to outsourcing specialist, at least 50,000 social homes in England are currently unlawfully occupied, representing over £5 billion worth of housing stock.
The firm’s fully-managed service uses data and technology to scrutinise [...]

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Serious Fraud Office – Swoop on 19 properties in International commercial loans fraud

Editor — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:23:00 +0000

Six suspects have been arrested during a search operation on 19 properties throughout England. Three are being held in custody to appear before magistrates. The action relates to an investigation into suspected advance fee fraud and commercial rent fraud. The searches, involving more than a hundred investigators and police officers, took place to prevent further loss to victims.

Outline

Operating as Gresham Ltd and Gresham Finance (London) Ltd (see note 1) the company offered commercial loans of up to £250 million. It promoted its services by advertising in newspapers, magazines and on the internet. Applicants for loans were charged between five and fifty thousand pounds for a due diligence check. Most of the applications came from overseas for commercial projects such as developing resorts and building hotels (in Austria, Turkey and other countries).

Once an applicant had paid the due diligence fee there was a next-stage payment (a security deposit) set at between 1% and 5% of the loan amount. Various other company names were also used to offer a similar service.

The same suspects were also involved in a retail property renting business operating as Gresham Ltd, Park Regent Ltd and Castlereagh London Ltd (see note 2). The suspects used a complex number of company names in their business dealings, including the following: 45 Oxford St Ltd, Renaissance Trust, Cutting and Company (Investments) Limited, Paul Street Media Limited and the Alliance Trust (see note 3).

Searches and arrests

Search warrants were executed at eighteen addresses in London, Surrey, Cheshire and Derbyshire in a mixture of commercial and residential properties. The searches involved 70 personnel from the SFO and 40 officers provided by the City of London Police, the Derbyshire Constabulary and the Cheshire Police.

Five men and one woman have been arrested and three will appear in court later today at City of London Magistrates Court.

The SFO are continuing enquiries into this case.

SFO Appeal

The SFO would like to hear from anyone who believes that they might have information useful to the investigation. The number to call is 0207 239 7079

Notes for editors:

1. Gresham Finance (London) Ltd is not to be confused with Gresham Finance Ltd, which is an unconnected company and not under investigation.

2. Castlereagh London Ltd is not to be confused with Castlereagh Ltd of Dublin, which is an unconnected company and not under investigation.

3. Alliance Trust is not to be confused with the Alliance Trust PLC, the FTSE 100 investment trust, which is an unconnected company and not under investigation.

Serious Fraud Office, Elm House, 10-16 Elm Street, London, WC1X 0BJ

Press Office tel: 020 7239 7045/7000/7004/7132 or mobile: 0796 655 8903 or 0777 616 0985

Main switchboard tel: 020 7239 7272

press.office@sfo.gsi.gov.uk – or via – www.sfo.gov.uk

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Buy-to-let fraud hits thousands

Editor — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:05:52 +0000

Detectives are investigating one of Britain’s biggest buy-to-let schemes in which large numbers of investors have seen their savings wiped out.

They fear thousands of people who sought to cash in on the buy-to-let dream during the boom years of 2004 to 2007 may turn out to have been victims of organised fraud.

The Sunday Times – David Leppard

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating alleged scams that have cost government-owned banks such as Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bradford & Bingley millions of pounds on loans that should never have been made.

Senior police officers said the full scale of the buy-to-let scandal was only beginning to emerge in the wake of the credit crunch and the collapse of house prices.

One chief constable said: “We can expect to see one or two of the same type of [scheme] emerging in every major city.”

The SFO said last week it was investigating two alleged buy-to-let frauds, involving properties in Leeds, Cardiff, Nottingham, Derby, Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle upon Tyne, Glasgow and London. Police in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, and West Yorkshire are also involved in the inquiries.

At the centre of one of the biggest police investigations is Morris Properties, which specialised in student new-build flats and refurbished homes in Leeds and the northeast. It sold 1,000 properties before going bust last summer.

The firm was established by Simon Morris, a local developer who built up a £69m fortune by selling buy-to-let properties.

Morris’s firm lured investors with promises of substantial “discounts” on flats that were allegedly overpriced, and guaranteed rental income, which in many cases failed to materialise. Investors, drawn in by the mirage of ever-increasing house prices, were easy prey.

With property prices now falling in some areas by as much as 50%, many of those investors are facing ruin. The victims include doctors, nurses, teachers and builders who have seen portfolios worth hundreds of thousands of pounds vanish. Many have had their properties repossessed or been forced to sell at knockdown prices.

A whistleblower who once worked for Morris and fell into debts of £500,000 after making buy-to-let investments with the firm said he had received threats after helping the police. Morris denies any wrongdoing.

Last week Morris was accused by lawyers representing 133 of his former clients of overseeing a scheme in which flats were sold to innocent investors for as much as 100% above their real value.

Hammad Ahmad, a solicitor with Max Gold Partnership, said his clients would launch a group legal action in the new year against the Morris companies and several conveyancing solicitors and valuers involved in the sales.

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