A letting agent has been ordered to pay back just £850 despite pocketing more than £16,000 at the expense of three landlords. 

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Saleem Kassim invented the need to undertake maintenance work at three properties he managed in the city, charging the landlords who owned the flats £16,500, and this was despite failing to carry out some of these repairs. 

On several occasions between 2016 and 2018, the managing agent, who worked at Leaders estate agents on Sankey Street in the town centre until May last year, told his clients that work needed to be done on their central heating. However, this work was not always carried out.

Instead, Kassim paid the invoices for these repairs into his own bank account. 

Kassim, who was handed 12-month imprisonment suspended for a year in July, was issued with a confiscation order of just £850 at a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing last week. 

Emma Wells, Leaders’ letting managing director, said: “The behaviour of this individual goes completely against the values of the company, we work hard to secure the trust of our landlords by offering expert guidance and a proactive service.

“This activity was reported as soon as we became aware of it and we took appropriate action internally. Our clients can rest assured that this was a disappointing but isolated incident, and their investments are fully protected.”