An estate agent has been jailed after he tried to make money on the side by renting an empty home his firm had been instructed to sell.
Your Move sales consultant Daniel Morriss, 25, advertised the two-bed house to let online as a furnished let for £500 per month without telling the owner or his employers.
The matter was discovered when a would-be tenant viewing the property in Sutton, Surrey, met the owner.
The viewer said that Morriss had claimed to have inherited the house. When buyers expressed an interest in the property, he told them it was already under offer.
Morriss was sentenced to four months in jail at Croydon Magistrates Court after admitting five theft and fraud charges.
Jason Tebb, London regional managing director for Your Move, said: “Daniel Morriss had been in employment at the branch for only a few weeks.
“He tried to let an unoccupied property that was for sale without the owners’ or Your Move’s knowledge.
“Fortunately this was discovered before the property was let, and following a full investigation he was immediately dismissed. Full assistance was given to the police with their investigations.”
Comments
Shame, initiative is rewarded with prison, moral of course don’t get caught
I am outraged that people are outraged, its outrageous.
Honest John is an oxy moron and still a bigot, but he has fans.
What has 10 feet, is 4 yards long & has an IQ of 10?
Honest John and his friends on the march. Watch out everyone, these people really exist in our society. Scary isn't it?
If he had broken into someone's house and there had been a fight and he ended up getting nicked (unlikely, but it does happen now and then) he would no doubt have got a few hours community service.
But, no, he sinned against the God - money - and had to go to clink.
Personally I would have liked to see him forced to pay back 10 times whatever he nicked.
Estate agency is no more crooked than any other industry, you will get the odd idiot like this in all walks of life, find one service profession where somebody hasnt been convicted of fraud/moral wrongdoing.
Ridiculous (and far too lengthy) faux moral outrage from FBA.
Honest John is spot on.
Honest John made a fair point (a debateable one, but nonetheless fair).
Presumably FBA's post was his idea of a joke by writing a deeply bigoted and offensive post suggesting that Honest John was bigoted.
My how we're all laughing.
It has taken him best part of 24hours to come up with that!
The thing is it just confirms his ignorance, not only not understanding the difference between an EA and a PMA he doesn't grasp the concept of Dealer and Agent.
An agent acts on behalf of the vendor and acts in the best interest of said vendor.
A dealer acts on behalf of no-one but themselves and acts in the best interest of themselves.
Don't be too hard on him, it is poor form to mock the educationally challenged.
HA HA HA, that was funny.
Dear Honest John,
Thank you for your obviously bigoted comment.
You obviously do not know many (if any) reputable car dealership owners as I do. If you did you might perhaps know that they do indeed complain in respect of escalating advertising costs as they work with decreasing margins and decreasing turnover.
You might observe I used the word 'complain' rather than 'bleating' as you did. Your use of this word in it's context clearly demonstrates your derisive, bigoted and wholly unsavoury nature. Believe it or not, comments from people like you made in such a derisive manner are generally disregarded by most normal people. If note is taken, the note is what an awful sort of person you must be.
Let me guess, I believe you would also think the following regarding other professions.
All policemen are corrupt?
All politicians are liars?
All professional footballers are overpaid?
All car dealers are con men?
All traffic wardens are sneaky?
All railway workers are jobsworths?
I could go on I'm sure
In addition, I expect you have very biased opinions of people you don't even know based purely on their colour, religion or race. I fully expect a person like you has either voted or considered voting BNP in the past.
You and people like you are the absolute bottom of the pile with your derogatory remarks relating to huge swathes of people who you know nothing about and have no contact with you (and never will,thank God). You hade behind anonymity to spread your bilge. You revel in your attempts to 'big it up'. I am in no doubt that you embarrass your wife often when spouting off in public about how good you are. You no doubt embellish your little stories you tell and your wife thinks you are a plonker for doing so. You feel you are so important in your own little world you please yourself no end. Do you find yourself admiring your face in the mirror most mornings. Do you sit in your car at traffic lights looking at yourself in shop windows to observe how marvellous you must look? Of course you do.
You sir are the epitome of bad taste. The old adage of "if you have nothing good or constructive to say you should say nothing at all would apply more to you than most.
You Sir win the prize for idiot of the day. Well done.
At least used car dealers have the decency to buy their own stock and add value to it before trying to earn a turn on it. You don't hear them bleating about the cost of advertising, either...
Sales and Lettings are different disciplines with different rules.
Similar to Rugby Union and Rugby league, similar but very different on closer inspection, with very different skills and very different rules.
Bottom line.. they are not the same.
I can understand why you would go to a gynecologist rather than a GP but most others will appreciate that every profession has different disciplines.
Estate Agents sell Property. Property Management Agents let property.
October 2004
Norwich Union and its former subsidiary Your Move are being pursued jointly for £1.52m by Richard Nuttall, a former £200,000-a-year director of Your Move claiming unfair dismissal.
The response from Norwich Union finance director Jim Newman, made in writing direct to Nuttall in May, was surprising. He confirmed that Norwich Union's top bosses were aware of problems with Embley's behaviour. He made it clear that directors had investigated Embley's conduct as long ago as 2001.
He is still the boss at Your Move !! (LSL).
Makes ya laugh !
That is hardly an Industry "Full" of crooks
Daniel Morriss being No1 and we say that he was jailed for attempting to rent out a flat which is Lettings not Estate Agency
No2 (on page 5 of my Google search) Luton-based estate agent, Nadeem Sultan, has been jailed for six years for stealing the identity of a businessman to obtain an £835,000 mortgage on his Chelsea property.
Pages 1-5 were non UK Agent or Agents jailed for non Agency crimes.
If you want to put it in perspective this afternoon alone more J Publics will be convicted of Criminal activities while being J Publics, crimes committed against other J Publics, than I can find cases of Estate Agent being crooks.
What you really ought to be concerned about is what we are getting up to while you are at work. Good looking fellas turning up, that have taken the trouble to groom themselves, who know how to be polite and charming and who smell of aftershave and deodourant rather than yeast, beer and fags.
Yay mate you be as rude about us as you like! Charmers and Cads is one we will hold our hands up to!
31 October 2004 Evening Standard
THE staid world of insurance is about to be shattered by allegations that a director harassed female employees over several years. The allegations centre on Simon Embley, 43, the £200,000-a-year boss of estate agency Your Move. Many of the claims have been seen by Financial Mail alongside an admission from Embley's former superiors at insurer Norwich Union that his behaviour was 'at times lewd, unbefitting and embarrassing'.
Not Guilty !
Stoopid as well by the look of it. Fancy arguing that EA's aren't crooked beneath an article about a crooked EA.
EA's and PMA's are one in the same.
J.Public: "EA business is much like the used car business. Full of crooks and chancers."
And the general public is full of wiseA$$, uninformed idiots like you.
OOPS! - I have just offended the general public (including myself...) with such a sweeping and incorrect statement.
My unreserved apologies to almost all.
He/she is clearly a tiny minority - just like those he would have people believe run rife in Estate Agency.
Clueless ain't even close to the word...
our survey asked
"EA business is much like the used car business. Full of crooks and chancers"
Mr Public you go first, provide the names of 10 individuals or firms who in all the history covered by the internet have been found guilty of criminal wrongdoing in their role as an Estate Agent.
You are allowed as much time as you like and can use Google to help.
I will give charity £20 for every verified case over 10 that you come up with.
Property Management Agents are excluded as they are not Estate Agents as defined by your allegation
Bit unfair to apportion blame without more info.
We all want new starters to be quick learners and hit the ground running. That aside, to know his way around a business and its software in only a few weeks sounds more like an experienced neg and for all we know it could have been!
Imagine if you will that this guy advertised the property on Gumtree so no link to his employer. Viewings via a partner in crime so again no link to his employer. Then they both vanish with the rent & deposit. This is the same guy with no criminal record, glowing references and supervised to within an inch of his life.
A dodgy member of staff is just that and apart from 'branding' their fore heads, no amount of regulation or supervision and will change that. A sneaky bugger will always find a way.
As long we have proper office safeguards and procedures in place to regularly review our business then we should be able to limit the risk. It could happen to any of us......
You don't go giving random members of the public the keys to your house though do you.
EA business is much like the used car business. Full of crooks and chancers.
Pathetic post, like all J Public are honest then? If so what filled the gaols then!?
So what? The rest of the crooks are still out there.
In my opinion the REAL fault lies with Jason Tebb, London regional managing director for Your Move,
"only empolyed for a few weeks"! This is an excuse for letting a young and inexperienced person be given the oportunity to conduct any deals without strict hands on supervision?
No wonder the profession is held in such low esteem.
Give me strength!
dread to think what some agents get away with from what I hear.
About £205,000 in one case, over £400k in another....... next please!
What a moron. Honestly. Even if he had let it and got the first month's rent at £500 how long did he honestly think it would continue before someone picked up on his scam. Is £500 worth losing your job over?
Someone I once worked with sold data to a competitor for £200 and was bragging about it ... but days later was sacked from his 50k OTE job and lost his car as well as a result. £200 doesn't seem such a big deal then does it.
Regulation please.
Dave, evre the wrong take on things?? What do you mean well done Your Move??
Didn't they employ him? Didn't they put him in a position of trust after only 'a few weeks'?
I expect he was on £15k a year. Corporate Estate Agent dangers old man. Wake up... smell coffee.
well done to yourmove for dealing with this in a swift and professional manor.
dread to think what some agents get away with from what I hear
good to see it wasn't buryed under the carpet(no pun intended)
£500 a month in Sutton - I can't believe he didn't let it in under half an hour.
He must have been a REAL moron.
But I suppose in the end that's a good thing.
We really need to get a full licencing system in place for all personnel who work in estate agency to raise the standards in this industry and stop idiots like this casting a shadow over the rest of us.
Isn't this a very misleading story?? It is extremely unlikely he was jailed for the main headline. When you read the rest of the story, he admitted FIVE other counts of THEFT, so in all likelihood it was one of these that was the main reason for jail or the whole five combined that led to jail along with possible history.