Liverpool-based Roach Estates & Property Management Ltd has been banned from letting properties, as well as letting agency and property management work, for one year.

A First Tier Property Tribunal hearing was told that in October 2024 the firm was convicted of failing to comply with an Improvement Notice relating to a property in Goodison Road, Liverpool, and fined £3,000. A month later it was convicted of failing to license two flats in Trinity Road, Bootle, and fined £10,000.

Liverpool City Council said the firm’s offences were widespread and persistent. In 2019 it was fined for 29 offences of failure to license properties in a selective licensing area, which were all unconnected houses in different streets.

Statement

An unchallenged statement from a landlord of flats in Daniel House reported that the firm had charged her £775 for obtaining licences under the selective licensing scheme but had not applied for them. The judge said: “This indicated a level of intentionality on the part of the respondent; it did not appear that the application for licences had merely been overlooked.”

Despite the 2019 convictions and entry on to the database of Rogue Landlords and Property Agents, further offences were committed. All other attempts to convince the firm to comply with its statutory obligations had failed, and a banning order was a necessary last resort, according to the council.

Offences

The tribunal accepted the seriousness of the offences and noted that Roach Estates’ directors, although plainly aware of the hearing, had chosen not to attend, or take any part in the proceedings.

The authority had argued for a three-year ban, but the judge imposed a ban of one year. He explained: “This is intended to reflect the fact that no actual harm to tenants appears to have been caused by the respondent’s offences and nevertheless, to send a deterrent message to other property managers.”

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