A London agent has denied claims that it has links to firms that have previously been expelled by The Property Ombudsman (TPO).

Trustpilot and Google reviews for Barrons London claim tenants and staff have been transferred from Flintons – an agency expelled by TPO last week.

Barrons London has a rating of two stars out of five on Google reviews, with a number of reviews raising links with Flintons.

A one-star review from a month ago said:  “They are from Flintons with new ‘brand’ which in my opinion says a lot.”

Flintons has a chequered history as the agent, based in Mile End, east London, was previously the subject of a BBC investigation that accused it of charging for viewings.

It had also mysteriously setup next door to Citiside Properties, just days after the latter had been expelled from TPO.

Companies House documents show Mohammed Moynul Haque, a previous director of Citiside Properties was once a director of a business called Supporting Care North East Branch between October 2018 and October 2019.

Barrons London majority shareholder and director Razaur Rahman is also listed as a director of Supporting Care North East Branch, which he joined in December 2018.

Aldgate-based Barrons London was incorporated in May 2019 and describes itself as “the new estate agent.”

Barrons London displays logos for the UK Association of Lettings Agents and TPO and EYE has confirmed its membership of these bodies.

It has eight properties to let on Rightmove.

EYE also asked Barrons London for a response about the links with Flintons.

We received an email from Abu K Shah, which said: “We confirm that Mohammed Haque  is not involved with our agency Barrons London Ltd.

“Mr Haque is known to our director Razaur Rahman through Supporting Care. This link helped us secure the lease to our agency premises in May 2019.

“We should like to make clear that no staff were transferred from the agency Flintons to Barrons. We recruited one staff member who did work for Flintons previously. This was through our usual recruitment process and based on their experience of the local property market.

“The Trustpilot reviews to which you refer was not known to us until they were brought to our attention through your email.

“We are unable to comment why a link has been drawn between Barrons and Flintons other than we have received a few properties from landlords who had previously rented through Flintons as presumably have other agents.”