The owner of a Newmarket lettings agent - Smart Residential Letting Agents - has pleaded guilty to 2 offences relating to unlawfully retaining rent and deposits under the Fraud Act 2006.

The owner of the agency was investigated by Suffolk trading standards officers (along with partners from the national trading standards tri-regional investigations team) following complaints from landlords and tenants that they had not been able to contact the agent after its premises closed in July 2018

Total losses by private rented sector landlords represented by the agent were in excess of £80,000 with individual losses ranging from £700 to as much as £15,000. Suffolk trading standards said that because the agent had illegally not protected the deposits he had received landlords had had to refund tenants' deposits out of their own pockets.

Cllr. Andrew Reid, the council's cabinet member for public health and public protection said that the agent's illegal behaviour had caused "immeasurable personal and financial stress" to the landlords affected. The agent will be sentenced at a later hearing.