Two letting agents' offices and two homes have been raided in a probe into complaints about missing rent and deposit payments, the Oxford Mail has reported today.
The report says police and trading standards officers carried out raids at Charles Lawson (Lettings) Ltd, in Cowley Road, Oxford, and a house in nearby Bartlemas Road at 7.45 yesterday morning.
It adds that the offices of James C Penny estate and letting agents, in Walton Street, Jericho, and a flat were targeted shortly after 9am.
The Oxford Mail says the operation followed a six-month investigation into about 50 complaints by tenants and landlords concerning missing rents and deposits.
A 40-year-old man was said to be in custody last night, arrested under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulation 2008.
Ian Marriott, group manager of trading standards, said: “We had reasonable grounds to suspect offences had been committed under these regulations. Trading Standards have received a significant number of complaints which varied in nature.
“But mostly we’ve had complaints about the failure to return deposits and failure to pass on rents that have been taken.
“There have also been complaints about a general failure to communicate.
“For us this has been quite a big operation.
“It’s really unusual for us to be dealing with high street premises such as these.”
Bags and boxes filled with papers and files were yesterday removed from the house in Bartlemas Road and loaded into a trading standards van.
Paperwork was also seized from the Charles Lawson (Lettings) Ltd office a short distance away in Cowley Road, which has been closed for a month, and the James C Penny estate agents, in Walton Street.
It was trading when officials carried out their operation.
James C Penny has no connection with Penny & Sinclair estate agents, in Banbury Road, Oxford, which is managed by James Penny.
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