An agent who lied about properties, saying he had sold them when he hadn’t and who also marketed a house that was not for sale, has been hit with a £22,500 bill.
Martin Hobbs, 42, was told at Truro Crown Court on Friday that he must pay out by the end of February or he will go to prison for 12 months.
The court heard that another agent reported him to Trading Standards, and that last August Hobbs was convicted of harassment towards that agent. This weekend, she spoke out about her ordeal.
Hobbs, who ran MPH Estate Agents in Millbrook, Cornwall, had previously pleaded guilty to five charges brought by Trading Standards.
He admitted four charges of false and misleading advertising under consumer protection law.
He also pleaded guilty to obstructing an investigating officer by producing a fake letter of instruction.
Hobbs had advertised two properties as being sold, when they were still for sale. He advertised two others as being for sale when he was not the instructed agent.
He had also presented a false offer on a property to a client.
Hobbs denied four other charges, which will lie on file.
On Friday Derek Perry, prosecuting for Cornwall Council, told the court that Hobbs was ‘brazen’: “He purported to market properties when he wasn’t, to make himself look more successful.”
Mr Perry said: “It appears the defendant looked for impressive properties and put them on Rightmove to [make it] look like he was involved in such sales.”
On one occasion an owner had contacted Hobbs about a sale but decided against further action. Despite this, Hobbs put up For Sale boards at the property, and re-erected them when the owner took them down. The court heard this amounted to minor harassment.
On another occasion, Jackson Stops contacted the owners of a house they had originally sold because they saw it was back on the market. The couple were astonished as they had no intention of selling or moving.
Nicholas Lewin, defending, said Hobbs, a married father-of-three, had filed for bankruptcy and had debts of £80,000.
He said: “He pushed a failing business too hard.”
Hobbs was told by Judge Simon Carr: “You did this to gain a market advantage to make money.
“You committed a series of fraudulent trading. You decided to commit active fraud to enhance your business.
“Furthermore you have deliberately attempted to hide your resources from the court.”
The judge said: “A clear insight into how you conducted your business is when another estate agent reported you, you committed an act of harassment.”
Hobbs was ordered to pay five lots of £2,500 fines, plus a £10,000 contribution towards Cornwall Council’s legal costs.
He was told that all must be paid in full by February 28 or he will go to prison for 12 months.
Last August, Hobbs pleaded guilty to harassing a woman and was given a restraining order, banning him from contacting her. The offences took place between November 2016 and July 2017.
Sandy Lush, of Alexander Lush estate agents in Millbrook, the agent whom Hobbs was convicted of harassing, told EYE at the weekend that her firm’s For Sale boards had been put on graveyard gates in Millbrook; other boards had been ripped down, some thrown in the river and others put on properties in another area; her office had been posted as up for sale on Facebook; she had been filmed while working, and her car had been posted on social media; her 21-year old receptionist alone in the office had been frightened by banging on the window; other incidents had also been reported to police, she said, and went towards his conviction for harassment.
She told EYE: “After bullying, harassment and menacing behaviour by Martin Hobbs toward myself and my staff (and very distressingly, my family) justice has finally been served as Trading Standards and the police have successfully convicted this discredited ex-estate agent of several crimes.
“Honest and hard working agents can be given a bad name by rogue agents like Hobbs but this case has gone some way to redress that by imposing a hefty sentence.
“There are, of course, very good agents in the area who would not dream of lying, misleading, or bullying anyone.
“All of the professional agents in the area were horrified that this man was at large in our lovely villages and towns.
“When allowing us to market and sell their most precious asset, our vendors trust us to give them an honest and professional service, which they rightly demand and deserve.
“My team and I are very grateful to our vendors, buyers, friends and families for all the support you have shown us regarding the treatment we had to bear from Martin Hobbs.
“Thank you to everyone for your help and support.”
Comments (11)
Perhaps now is the time that Mark Hayward from Propertymark would like to explain to the industry why he maintained that activity such as this was an irrelevance, an irritation and one that bothered no-one and not of interest to anyone other than a few rabble-rousers? These activities are fraudulent, and lead to decent agents being undermined, attacked and losing legitimate income (as well as sleepless nights).
Thank goodness the agent in question went directly to Cornwall Trading Standards, and not NTSEAT or the TPO. Justice has been done and been seen to be done.
Well done to the agent involved and to Cornwall Trading Standards for taking action.
I feel sorry for her that she had to put up with it, but well done for staying strong throughout everything he threw at you.
So what’s new, everyday story of estate agency.
No it isn’t, the very vast majority of agents are honest and decent and for as long as I can remember have been putting up with spivs like this.
The trade associations and contracted regulators dismiss B2B complaints as agents’ gripes and that alone condones wrong doing and allows it to appear commonplace.
Agents on the ground at a #local level are best placed to identify and report roguery; they know the rules and suffer when the rules are being broken yet, just as they did 32 years ago when I started in what was then a profession, Propertymark are still using “agents’ gripes” as an excuse for not getting involved. What is worse is that they describe those trying to pressure them into action as “an irritation”
Agents Gripes? Is that another way of saying sour grapes? But the best placed people are the ones in the trenches together! Ok, if Connells were constantly contacting them to say that Dixons had advertised a property as reduced when it had only been advertised at that price for 27 days rather than the required 28, or that a SSTC board was up 2 days after it had completed or silly things on a weekly basis then fair enough. But an Agent reporting someone for fraud?? That’s serious.
Headache – Your comment wins the Pr*t of the Year Award. Well done to the lady for finally nailing the odious bloke.
AI – our infrequently visiting Master of Put-Downs – Jonnie – once asked a particularly obnoxious specimen if he posted his drivel simply to “satisfy your urge to make estate agents cross……….. I don’t get it – did your Mrs leave you for one or something”.
I’m pretty sure he would ask the same of ‘Headache’ – as all the signs point to being potentially one of the same angry shouty types.
The same thread gave us this prediction about property prices
Realising Reality
Sorry, house prices depend upon a buyer’s ability to buy, not a sellers dreamt-up asking price. Prices will have to correct to the buyer’s levels of wealth (or lack of it)!
12 November 2010 09:31 AM
Aww, I kinda miss RealisingReality! He was fun when you were bored, just give him a bit of a poke with a stick and watch him go!
This guy needs help.
A few sleepless nights for a few brands tonight. We all know the agents that lie to gain market share. As long as we continue to report them, more will be punished through the courts with potentially custodial time.