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Written by Emma Lunn

A London landlord has taken estate agency Foxtons to court in a row over unpaid commission after complaining that tenants trashed his house.

Last week a judge has set aside a county court ruling against Jonathan Bloom over unpaid commission to Foxtons.

The dispute began in 2007 when Bloom, a lawyer for a hedge fund, hired Foxtons to let out a house he owned in South Hampstead. He said he was “unsatisfied” with the occupants it proposed, who were “young graduates” and not the “quality corporate tenants” he says the estate agency told him it would look for.

However, Bloom let the tenants move in as he didn’t want the property to stand empty.

But when he visited the house, Bloom said he found “damage to expensive furniture, drug paraphernalia and pornography on display”. He added that a neighbour complained about the occupants “running naked in the mews and being very noisy and a nuisance”.

He evicted the tenants in September 2008 and said he spent thousands of pounds refurbishing the property.

Foxtons invoiced him after the occupants left, to cover commission for the remaining six months of the 18-month contract. But Bloom — who says there was an agreement he could break off the contract after a year if he chose to end the tenancy — did not pay it.

He heard nothing more until five years later. In November last year his ex-wife forwarded a message for him, sent by Foxtons to her email address, which enclosed a draft court claim of £1,749.82  for unpaid commission.

Bloom disputed the claim but the next he heard was an email from Foxton’s in January, enclosing a judgment against him from Northampton county court. It was a judgment in default — meaning the case had gone against him because he had not entered a defence. The court documents had been sent to Bloom’s old business address, where he had been located the time of the tenancy agreement.

Bloom, 46, told the Evening Standard: “Without ever serving a claim on me they secured a judgment in default. I had to tell my firm and the Financial Conduct Authority. This is extremely embarrassing and regrettable.”

Foxtons offered to set aside the judgment in February, but Bloom wanted some of his costs paid and proceeded to court. At Barnet county court last week the judge set aside the earlier ruling, and an award was made in Bloom’s favour for a small amount of his costs, thought to be in the region of £800.

Foxtons declined to comment.

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