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Having fraudster Simon van Houten manage our flats cost us £100,000

September 24, 2012 by

Fraudster managing agent Simon van Houten, 31, (left) told residents  he had dismissed their caretaker … only for them to discover that the man was still on the payroll two years later. The £32,000 in wages had been secretly paid out of their service charges. This shambles was only one incident at Sunlight Square, which for five years was managed by Van Houten when he was an executive with Rendall and Rittner. In July he was jailed for 30 months at the Old Bailey  for stealing £122,000 out of leaseholders service charges.

He used a bogus decorating company to issue numerous invoices that he then authorised for payment. He used the money to fund a luxury lifestyle in Chelsea, on the proceeds of funds he stole from leaseholders in east London.

Van Houten pleaded guilty before the trial began and as a result there was no evidence presented or cross-examination.

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Rendall and Rittner ‘confident’ to prevent another Simon Van Houten fraudster

August 24, 2012 by

Managing agents Rendall and Rittner has “initiated a series of internal and external reviews of our systems and procedures” following the jailing last month of its employee Simon Van Houten, 31, for stealing £122,000 of leaseholder’s funds.

Richard Daver, the managing director of the company, is quoted in today’s Property Week, as saying the company is “confident we have strong procedures in place to prevent a reoccurrence”.

In the same article, which covers the mounting pressure for leasehold reform with the Channel Four Dispatches programme and the CentreForum report, Sebastian O’Kelly of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership is reported as saying that the Van Houten case was “to a large extent bad luck for Rendall & Rittner”. [Read more...]

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Fraudster managing agent gets 30 months jail for using East Londoners’ cash to fund high life in Chelsea

July 26, 2012 by

Simon van Houten, who was paid a £42,000 salary, used East London leasehold accounts to pay for a “life beyond his means” in Chelsea

Simon van Houten, 31, was given a 30-month prison sentence at the Old Bailey this afternoon after pleading guilty to stealing £122,000 from leasehold service charge accounts held by London managing agent Rendall and Rittner.

Van Houten carried out the fraud for two years between 2008 and 2010 by issuing invoices for a bogus maintenance company, “London Decorating Services”, which he subsequently approved and paid.

Thirty payments were made with amounts varying from £2,100 to £7,300. VAT was also added, with Van Houten using the VAT number he had lifted from a legitimate company.

By plundering the accounts of 1,400 units under his management in east London, Van Houten was able to live the high life, “beyond his means”, in Chelsea. Although the fraudster did not use the cash for any single large purchase, none of the money has been recovered.

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We won’t protect leaseholders’ funds even after Van Houten’s theft because … that was the last government’s idea

July 23, 2012 by

Minister Baroness Hanham said the Government would not introduce Section 156 of the 2002 Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act to protect leaseholders’ money and the voluntary regulation of the sector at present was sufficient

The House of Lords was told today that key clauses in the legislation that would help protect leaseholders’ funds that are controlled by managing agents won’t come into force because this was the Labour government’s policy.

This was the explanation from Baroness Hanham, Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government, why the key Section 156 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 would not be introduced.

As soon as Grant Shapps came into office with the coalition government this vital piece of pending legislation was dumped.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes, a Conservative, had demanded to know whether the government would introduce protections after the conviction last month of managing agent Simon van Houten, 31, for stealing £122,000, who faces a jail sentence at the Old Bailey on Thursday.

“Does [Baroness Hanham] not think that the nearly three million leaseholders are entitled to the protection called for by the voluntary accreditation bodies, Leasehold Knowledge Partnership and the Association of Residential Managing Agents, and supported by the British Property Federation?” asked Baroness Parkes, who had provided Baroness Hanham with LKP’s report of Van Houten’s conviction.

The government minister replied that the law provides sufficient protection for leaseholders.

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Baroness Gardner calls for leaseholders’ money held by managing agents to be protected

July 20, 2012 by

Baroness Gardner wants leaseholders’ money to be protected

Following the conviction of fraudster Simon van Houten, 31, the Rendall and Rittner managing agent who will be jailed for stealing £122,000 next Thursday, Baroness Gardner of Parkes is calling for leaseholder funds to be protected.

On Monday in the House of Lords, she is to ask the Government to introduce a transparent scheme, similar to the deposit protection scheme in short-term tenancies, to protect monies paid by leaseholders and held by managing agents.

The Van Houten case clearly illustrates the vulnerability of leaseholder funds held under no regulatory supervision by managing agents. Although none of the money was recovered, Rendall and Rittner “immediately reimbursed the small number of clients involved”.

Van Houten used a bogus company to invoice Rendall and Rittner for repair and maintenance work that was never carried out.

He operated the scam for more than two years, until November 30 2010, before suspicions were raised – initially by leaseholder Susan Stuckey, see below –  about the massive bills.

Baroness Parkes prompted the Lords debate on leasehold reform last April, following representations by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

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Van Houten abused trust of clients and colleagues, says Rendall and Rittner

July 19, 2012 by

Simon van Houten can expect ‘custodial’ sentence next week

The property management company Rendall and Rittner has made a statement to LKP about its former executive Simon van Houten, 31, who faces jail next week after pleading guilty to stealing £122,000 at the Old Bailey.

A spokesman for the company said: “Mr Van Houten abused the trust of both clients and colleagues. Rendall and Rittner Limited immediately reimbursed the small number of clients involved and we are delighted that the police have successfully prosecuted the case we presented to them in 2010 and that justice has now been done.”

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Rogue managing agent, who stole £122,000, claimed to be MIRPM qualified … and helped colleagues pass the exams

July 18, 2012 by

Simon van Houten pleaded guilty to stealing £122,000 before his trial started at the Old Bailey last month

Simon van Houten, 31, the Rendall and Rittner executive who stole £122,000 from leaseholders’ accounts, passed himself off as a Member of the Institute for Residential Property Management and helped other employees at the firm prepare for the examinations.

As a result of the case, IRPM is considering a rule change to make public the information that a member has had membership terminated.

Susan Stuckey, a leaseholder at the Mill Quay Estate, in east London, and a former director of one of its residents’ management companies, expressed reservations about the conduct of Van Houten before his arrest. Van Houten pleaded guilty to fraud on the day that his trial was to start at the Old Bailey last month, and will be given a custodial sentence next week.

Stuckey received the following in a letter on August 10 2010 from director Matt Rittner:

“Simon is a competent Property Manager and is MIRPM qualified. Internally, Simon trains my staff in the months leading up to the IRPM examinations. I am unsure why you seem to have a negative view of Simon.”

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Executive guilty of plundering £122,000 from managing agents Rendall and Rittner

June 21, 2012 by

An executive with managing agents Rendall and Rittner pleaded guilty on Monday to stealing £122,000 from his employers’ accounts.

Simon van Houten, 31, from Southend in Essex, used bogus company invoices to scam the company, which manages some of the most prestigious residential buildings in London.

Van Houten, a parish councillor at Paglesham, carried out the fraud over two years before he was rumbled.

He pleaded guilty just before the trial began at the Old Bailey on Monday, and is now awaiting sentencing on July 26.

The case is a reverse for Rendall and Rittner, which has been on a roll this year. It recently won the management of several prestige developments for the Berkeley Group and Redrow’s One Commercial Street, just east of the City. It also manages the upmarket eco resort the Lower Mill Estate in the Cotswolds.

Only last month Rendall and Rittner won a Property Week Resi award for turning round St George’s Wharf, built by the Berkeley Group, where residents received £1 million last September in settlement for over-charging. The complaints occurred when the site was under previous management.

The company, which is FSA regulated, is run by ex-barrister Duncan Rendall, a former chairman of ARMA, and Matt Rittner.

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