OFT publishes names of more banned agents

The Office of Fair Trading has continued to update its site by publishing the names of agents who were banned last year, but whose bans were not publicised at the time – apparently the result of an administrative omission.

In its latest update, the most notorious name mentioned is Keith Fryer, who was banned last May 31. Property conman Fryer was a regular in estate agents’ offices – and the subject of many warnings.

Purporting to trade as various companies, he would put in an offer for a property, saying he could produce a buyer for it. He would then ask for a ‘processing’ fee of £392 from the property’s seller, saying this would be refundable on completion of the purchase.

However, there never were any buyers. Fryer was finally put behind bars for another fraud, unrelated to estate agents.

Also now named on the OFT website as having received bans some months ago are:

Croydon estate agent Alaba Adewale Adebajo, ex-director of Whitehouse Estate Agents and Financial Services, banned last July;

Luton agent Nadeem Sultan, formerly managing director of Regency Estate and Letting Agents, banned last June;

Kevin Johnston of Belfast, banned last March;

Selvavinayakam Vigneswaran, who had been a director of Man & Co in Kingsbury, north London, banned last August.