I just read a thread by Nick ’ Likely Scam and Potential Harm to Landlords
I can confirm what he said about the ‘Professionals in Property’ is true. It’s not ‘LIKELY’ but 100% a scam. Because I have become a victim. I would like to raise the awareness to all the landlords as well as all the tenants. In my case, he also used the same bogus company called Santa Fe Ltd. Well, the company is real but the company has nothing to do with him at all. He then made up a fake tenancy agreement between me and that company which he claimed he worked with. Technically, it is a fake agreement! As Santa Fe Ltd knows nothing about he is using its company to get his victims. Once he got my flat, he sublet my flat by room to different parties and even advertise it on airbnb to make profits, which was totally out of my awareness and with my knowledge and permission.
He also took the deposit from the tenants and refuse to return when they left. In fact, he didn’t even place the tenants’ deposit in a tenancy deposit protection (TDP) scheme, which I understand is a must by law.
At the beginning, it was still ok. He still paid the rent to me but always delayed. This was just fishy as an proper estate agency rarely has situation like that. And one thing to mention is that he never answer your calls! just text you and email you back making thousands of reasons. Then I started to realise something was wrong, it became clear when I contacted Santa Fe Ltd and got reply that they has nothing to do with ‘Professionals in property’ and suggested me reporting to the police.
As you expected, things went bad for me when I decided to end the contract with Professionals in Property which is a private company registered under a guy called ‘Michael Emunchy’
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10642377/officers
When did not pay for this month’s rent and when i told him I would change the lock. He asked me give him two more days and lying about he changed his accounting company recently and had authorised the payment, it just needed a bit more time. He even cheekily said it was ‘ridiculous’ I was chasing him for money!! And I naively gave him 2 more days. Guess what happened! he went to my flat and took away all the furnitures while the tenants were at work (my flat was unfurnitured). The cheeky bastxxd even texted me everyday to ask if the payment was received and made it sound like he was really making effort, obviously, it was all lies! I only understand what he was trying to do is to lower my vigilance and make sure I don’t change the lock so that he can remove his furnitures
This is a big lesson learned. I hope this thread would help other landlords and tenants avoid falling victims of his and would inspire others who have been his victim to come forward to tell their story AND report it to the police! I really the police and do something about it and make him responsible for the crime he is committing and prevent him from getting other victims! I also hope OpenRent would take this seriously and do something to stop him/other scams from getting potential victims from this great renting platform.