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Disgruntled buyer sentenced after circulating false rumours

17 July 2009
Written by rosalind renshaw

An estate agent which endured false rumours circulated about it going bust, has had its day in court.

Martin Frostick, 11 years ago, was gazumped on a house purchase, and last year launched a smear campaign against Ryder & Dutton.

He was convicted of fraud at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, and sentenced to nine months in jail, suspended for two years.

Frostick told the court he had agreed to buy a £280,000 property but weeks before completion, Ryder & Dutton told him he had been too slow in arranging a mortgage and someone else had bought the property.

Last year he discovered the same firm that had acted for the building society when his former home in Oldham, Lancashire, previously valued at £43,000, was sold for just £27,000 after being repossessed.

He said he tried to make inquiries about the case to Ryder & Dutton, but was told the records had been destroyed.

Frostick, 53, then faxed bogus bankruptcy petitions to 765 companies falsely claiming that Ryder & Dutton was going bust, which led to the estate agents being inundated with inquiries as to whether it was still trading. One company terminated an agreement with the firm.

He faxed copies of the fabricated bankruptcy petition to Ryder & Dutton’s director, Richard Powell, and sent him an email of an article from the Guardian about Northern Rock’s financial problems altered to read as though it was about Ryder & Dutton.

Ryder & Dutton called in the police and issued statements dismissing the notices as ‘malicious rumour’.

In court, Frostick admitted sending the bogus faxes.

Comments

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    Was he a civil servant? or is that person still on the loose in Whitehall who's anti-estate agent industry?

    • 21 July 2009 16:05 PM
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    I wonder if the CPS would be interested in Mr Frostricks comments - I will pass them on. This may well breach the conditions of his suspended sentence.

    • 17 July 2009 18:48 PM
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    blah, blah, blah. It sounds like Frostrick had as much time on his hands a peebee with 765 faxs. Mike6702 my friend says your a sex pest. (not me, my friend)

    • 17 July 2009 15:26 PM
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    Well put, Vossy (welcome back, by the way!). I had the same thoughts that the chap has been sitting like a demented bunny boiler waiting for the 'right moment' to strike. There never was going to be a right moment, though - was there? Maybe Mike is related - that would explain a lot...

    • 17 July 2009 13:11 PM
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    Mike6702 - well, sunshine...haven't you ruffled a few feathers? This is not a playground for the unenlightened - make stupid comments about something you (and your estate agent 'friend') know little or nothing about and you will get your ass whooped! Take it like a man - then go away and don't come back. Estate Agents (of which I am NOT one, by the way...), like elephants, have long memories - some can even remember the last offer they took - so they'll be watching for you!

    • 17 July 2009 13:08 PM
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    Its clear Mr Frostick is a nutter of the 1st degree and probably shared a padded cell with Mike6702 in another life.

    • 17 July 2009 12:56 PM
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    Mike6702 Your stupidity borders on ignorance! ''That way you still might upset some people, but you wont annoy a client so bad that they go to these extreme lengths to retaliate''. The man who brought about this action WAS NOT THE CLIENT. The client is the fee payer, in this case his property had been repossesed and the agents instructing client was the bank/building society NOT the distressed 'owner' who had defaulted on his payments. If I were you pal I'd stay shtum from here on.

    • 17 July 2009 12:13 PM
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    Mike6702 you are an idiot of the first order..''Its about time estate agents learnt that people pay their wages so stop screwing them over''. Mike who pays the 'wages'....,tick tock tick tock tick tock....times up plonker I will tell you...it's the OWNER of the property for whom the Agent is acting and for whom the Agent has a duty of care to ensure they achieve the best price for their 'wage' paying client. Agents will only act on behalf of buyers if they are retained (can see you struggling with that one so I'll explain, that means the buyer pays a fee to the agent to act on HIS behalf to get a particular property for the lowest price possible. However the Agent cannot act for both parties so his 'wage'will only ever be paid by THE PERSON HE IS ACTING ON BEHALF OF....get it?

    • 17 July 2009 12:03 PM
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    I happen to know this agent and a little about the case. There are many circumstances not detailed in this news article but suffice to say that the agent acted properly on both of the transactions here.
    Hurrah for the agent coming up trumps and getting this vindictive man sentenced!
    It is a shame that their business has suffered in the meantime from this smear campaign, coupled with the recession it has been absolutely appalling timing for them.

    • 17 July 2009 11:58 AM
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    Well PatrickProthero, I would be an ill informed member of the public if my friend wasnt an estate agent and not told me all the naughty stories that estate agents get up to.

    I am sure the estate agent was acting on behalf of the client, but its doesnt take much to keep all parties involved up to date. That way you still might upset some people, but you wont annoy a client so bad that they go to these extreme lengths to retaliate.

    • 17 July 2009 11:51 AM
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    Could it be the agent was actually acting on behalf of his client? Mike6702`s comments are typical of the ill informed public not actually knowing what agents actualy do. Agents don`t gazump - it`s their clients` who do - well did in a decent market!

    • 17 July 2009 11:33 AM
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    He did go a bit overboard with the campaign, but I bet that estate agent wont be gazumping anyone else in a long time.

    In business you cant please everyone all the time, but when you try and drain every ounce of profit out of every deal you are sure to really annoy some people.

    Its about time estate agents learnt that people pay their wages so stop screwing them over.

    • 17 July 2009 11:25 AM
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    "Here, here," Agency insider. Beautifully and accurately put.

    • 17 July 2009 11:21 AM
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    How refreshing to see the boot on the other foot. Consumer groups, government and the media demonise estate agents without ever recognising that all too often we have to put up with the most appalling behaviours and attitude from the general public.

    • 17 July 2009 07:30 AM
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