Estate agent pair banned from industry

Two Shropshire estate agents have been banned from working in the industry over unlawful practices. And the firm they worked for has also been handed a warning.

An adjudicator from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) found that Charles Grizzle, a former employee of Imperial Homes UK in Wellington, failed to inform a potential buyer that a property being marketed by the company was owned by Luke Morris, a former director of the company.

A deposit was also obtained from the purchaser, which is unlawful if an agent has a personal interest in the property.

The adjudicator also found Mr Morris and Mr Grizzle also fabricated a letter to the OFT in an attempt to conceal their actions.

Imperial has also been handed a warning order and told if it repeats the breaches of legislation it will be banned from estate agency work.

Mr Morris and Mr Grizzle are no longer employed by the company.

Mike Haley, OFT director of consumer protection, said: "As this case shows, we will take the strongest possible action against those whose dishonesty make them unfit to practise estate agency."

Mr Morris, Mr Grizzle and the company have until September 25 to lodge an appeal. The orders, which were made on August 28, will not come into force until that date.

Chris O'Regan, branch manager of Imperial Homes in Wellington, said: "Procedures were not in place, but they are now to mitigate anything like this happening again.

"We are going to appeal against the verdict, we do feel it's unfair."