Trading Standards Investigations into Lettings Agents and Property Managers

The request was successful.

Dear Plymouth City Council,

Would you please supply the following information under the Freedom of Information Act.

The number of trading standards investigations carried out in relation to letting agents and property management companies in the past 5 years. If the number of investigations is less than 15, please extend the period to 10 years.

With the data please expand using the following criteria:

What was the exact nature of those investigations and outcome on a case by case basis and who were the alleged offending agents involved in those cases. With this in mind please clarify the investigations using the following format taking note of the examples.

Date: xx/xxxx
Company: ABC Agents
Offence/s: Breach of section xx of xxxx Act /Reg xxxx
Nature of Offence: Misleading action/Omission/Money Laundering/Failure to Register for Redress Scheme
Action Taken: Warning Issued/Court Proceedings Taken (Outcome)/ Referred to Police/SFO/CMA/ Or Relevant comment

Date: xx/xxxx
Company: (Under Investigation)
Offence/s: Breach of section xx of xxxx Act /Reg xxxx
Nature of Offence: Misleading action/Omission/Money Laundering/Failure to Register for Redress Scheme
Action Taken: Under Investigation/Proceeding With Court Case/Referred to Police/SFO/CMA/Or Relevant Comment

It is understood that disclosure of any company’s details is not covered by the DPA and therefore cannot be withheld unless there is a current ongoing investigation (not outstanding due to disapeearance) against the company. In stating this exception only applies to ongoing investigations and does not preclude the company being named relating to previous investigations. If there is an ongoing investigation then please indicate the investigation type and omit the company’s name.

Finally, the release of this information is in the public interest and appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

Yours Sincerely,

M Doyle

Dew, Adam, Plymouth City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mark

 

Thank you for your e-mail requesting information on Trading Standards
Investigations into Lettings Agents and Property Managers

The application was received on 20/11/2017.

 

The Council will seek to provide the information that you have requested
within the next 20 working days, or let you know how you can obtain it. 
We may not be able to provide all you have requested; if we do not hold
the information, or if an exemption or exception to providing the
information applies.  We will explain if we cannot provide what you have
requested.

 

Information is usually provided free of charge, but if there could be a
fee, we will tell you about any charge before we retrieve the information.

 

We usually provide the information in either electronic or paper format,
depending on how you made your request and how the information is held. 
If you would like our response to be in a particular format then please
let me know, but there may be a charge.

 

If you have any questions concerning information requests then please look
at the Council’s web pages:
[1]http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/coun...
or contact me using the details above.  If I am unavailable please leave a
contact telephone number.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Adam Dew

FOI Representative

Office of the Director of Public Health

Plymouth City Council

Windsor House
Tavistock Road
Plymouth
Devon
PL6 5UF

01752 668000

[2][email address]

 

[3]https://remote.plymouth.gov.uk/pccimages...

[4][IMG]

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FOI ODPH, Plymouth City Council

Date 4/12/17

Dear Mark

Thank you for your request for information dated 17/11/17 and received on 20/11/17 concerning trading standards Investigations into Lettings Agents and Property Managers
.
This request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

This letter is a full response to that application.

The Council does hold the information that you have requested and the information is given below -

Over the last 10 years Plymouth Trading Standards have received over 90 complaints regarding Letting Agents. None have resulted in formal investigation except the following:

September-November 2016
JDC (Plymouth) Ltd t/a Drake Lettings & Sales
Possible offences: Fraud Act 2006, Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (Misleading Action)
Outcome: Referred to Police

Please note that the information supplied can mostly be re-used in accordance with the Open Government Licence. The council should be acknowledged as the source of the information, but copyright is maintained for all photographs and third party contributions to the information supplied. For further details see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

I hope that we have supplied the information that you expected to receive. If you wish to discuss this letter or the information that is supplied then please contact me.
If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request a review by writing to me stating the reason for your dissatisfaction.

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Telephone: 0303 123 1113. Website: www.ico.gov.uk
There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours sincerely

Adam Dew
FOI Representative
Office of the Director of Public Health
Plymouth City Council
Windsor House
Tavistock Road
Plymouth
Devon
PL6 5UF
01752 668000
[email address]

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Dear Plymouth City Council,

Firstly many thanks for your reply

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Plymouth City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Trading Standards Investigations into Lettings Agents and Property Managers'.

The request for an internal review is being made as there may have been a misinterpretation of the request.

Given the information received by a number of comparable councils which indicate that around 10 investigations are the expected derived from the statistics relating to population, rental properties and lettings agents/property management companies in the area. This can include investigations that may have been forwarded on to other agencies or have resulted in no further action

Therefore having stated that there has been only one investigation which was a successful suggests that there may have been a misinterpretation and that you supplied data for convictions alone.

However, it has been noted that the majority of councils are classifying spot checks and compliance clampdowns as investigations relating to breaches of the Consumer Rights Act (displaying of fees) and Enterprises and Regulatory Reform Act (Belonging to a Redress Scheme) to which they have been issued with warning letters and given penalties and including this data in their responses.

Therefore to avoid confusion and distortion of data the below link leads to the response from Leicester City which I consider as the benchmark of responses relating to the 53 identical requests made, including yours, that were sent out.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...

Yours faithfully,

Mark Doyle

Dew, Adam, Plymouth City Council

Dear Mark

 

Thank you for your email dated 17^th December 2017 responding to the
information provided  by Plymouth City Council to your Freedom of
Information request dated 27^th November 2017.

 

We have carefully considered the issues that you have raised and as a
result of your comments we have decided to conduct an internal review of
the information provided to you.

 

We will seek to provide you with the outcome of this internal review
within 20 working days of receiving your attached email, that is by 17^th
January 2018.

 

If you remain unhappy with the handling of your request or complaint, you
have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Telephone: 0303 123 1113. Website:  [1]https://ico.org.uk/

 

There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Adam Dew
Technical Support Officer
Public Protection Service
Windsor House
Tavistock Road
Plymouth
Devon
PL6 5UF

T +441752304034
E [2][email address]

[3]www.plymouth.gov.uk

 

 

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Dew, Adam, Plymouth City Council

1 Attachment

Date 16/01/2018

Dear Mark

Thank you for your request for review of information request dated 17th December 2017 and received on 18th December 2017 concerning Trading Standards Investigations into Lettings Agents and Property Managers.
This request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

This letter is a full response to that application.

I am writing further to your e-mail asking for a review of our previous response to your FOI request on 'Trading Standards Investigations into Lettings Agents and Property Managers'. In view of the clarification you provided and the response by Leicester City we have modified our interpretation of 'Investigation' and amended our response. Please see attached

Please note that the information supplied can mostly be re-used in accordance with the Open Government Licence. The council should be acknowledged as the source of the information, but copyright is maintained for all photographs and third party contributions to the information supplied. For further details see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

I hope that we have supplied the information that you expected to receive. If you wish to discuss this letter or the information that is supplied then please contact me.
If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request a review by writing to me stating the reason for your dissatisfaction.

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Telephone: 0303 123 1113. Website: www.ico.gov.uk
There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours sincerely

Adam Dew
Technical Support Officer
Public Protection Service
Windsor House
Tavistock Road
Plymouth
Devon
PL6 5UF

T +441752304034
E [email address]
www.plymouth.gov.uk

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