An order banning a Brentwood man from estate agency work has taken effect after successful legal action by the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT).
Sean Boggans was given a prohibition order under Section 3 of the Estate Agents Act 1979 after he was convicted of manslaughter in September 2013.
After receiving oral and written evidence, an NTSEAT adjudicator found that the nature of the offence against a person who Mr Boggans had not previously met demonstrated that he was a person who was unfit to carry on estate agency work. The prohibition order was issued against Mr Boggans on 10 November 2015.
However, Mr Boggans filed a notice of appeal on 9 December 2015 against the decision but the NTSEAT applied to strike out the notice of appeal earlier this year on the grounds that there was no reasonable prospect of Mr Boggans’ case succeeding.
At the First-Tier Tribunal, representations from both parties were considered before HH Judge Peter Wulwik. The judge agreed with the NTSEAT that there was no reasonable prospect of Mr Boggans’ case succeeding and struck out his appeal, adding that the circumstances and seriousness of Mr Boggans’ offence could not but lead to the conclusion that he posed a real risk to the public and was unfit to carry on estate agency work.
James Munro, head of NTSEAT, said: “This was an important case for us as the judge also made it clear that the fact that a person has been punished in criminal proceedings for an offence does not prevent us from then considering whether the person is unfit to carry out estate agency work.”
Cllr John Powell, Powys County Council’s Cabinet Member for Trading Standards, said: “This was an important hearing for the NTSEAT and we are delighted that the judge agreed with us and struck out the appeal by Mr Boggans.
“Since April 2014, we have been the UK’s lead enforcement authority for the Estate Agents Act 1979 and one of our duties is to prohibit individuals and/or businesses who are deemed to be unfit to engage in estate agency work.
"Section 3 of the Act allows us to issue a prohibition order where a person has committed an offence involving fraud or other dishonesty, or violence.
"This should serve as a warning to other estate agents in the country that if they commit an offence involving fraud or violence they could be added to the public register and prohibited from carrying out estate agency work."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
About National Trading Standards
National Trading Standards delivers national and regional consumer protection enforcement. Its Board is made up of senior and experienced heads of local government trading standards from around England and Wales with an independent Chair. Its purpose is to protect consumers and safeguard legitimate businesses by tackling serious national and regional consumer protection issues and organised criminality and by providing a “safety net” to limit unsafe consumer goods entering the UK and protecting food supplies by ensuring the animal feed chain is safe.