A landlord with an ASBO has had his credit license stripped from him after it was discovered he hid his criminal past.
The Office of Fair Trading revoked Peter Hall’s license after learning he has 23 unspent criminal convictions, including GBH, theft and harassment, in breach of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
The Middlesbrough man all is also banned from being an estate agent, although he will legally continue as a landlord and a letting and property-managing agent.
Some property investors believe the case is likely to reignite the debate as to whether private landlords and both estate agents and letting agents should be licensed.
Hall, a former boxer who trades in Middlesbrough as Westminster Services, operated as a private landlord, estate agent and property management agent and has offered credit to tenants living in properties he manages.
The OFT took action after being alerted to Hall’s record by the North-East Illegal Money-Lending Team, who are local Trading Standards officers.
It issued a ‘minded to revoke’ notice and later obtained an interim order from the High Court preventing Hall from licensable activities pending the outcome of the OFT’s revocation process.
The High Court order also prevented him from engaging in threatening, violent or intimidatory behaviour in connection with his consumer credit or ancillary credit business.
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