Hundreds of tenants and landlords across Fife have been left out of pocket after a lettings firm closed suddenly.
Police have begun an inquiry into Clear Lets of Kirkcaldy after being flooded by complaints from angry members of the public. It has been alleged that some landlords have not received rent money owed to them since September.
Meanwhile, tenants are desperately trying to track down the firm’s directors in a bid to claw back hundreds of pounds paid in deposits and rents which have not reached their homes’ owners.
Clear Lets, a franchise of the Clear Group owned by businessman Tahar Ali, opened an office in Whytescauseway, just off the High Street, when it took over Kingdom Properties two years ago.
Although the office is now closed and the windows whitewashed, the firm’s website was still up and running, complete with the boast: ”We always deliver on our promises.”
An entry on the Companies House website described Clear Lets Ltd as dissolved.
Mr Ali, who describes himself as a business mentor, guru, motivational expert and philanthropist, could not be contacted.
One desperate tenant who contacted The Courier said he paid Clear Lets £450 towards his first month’s rent as recently as January 23. That was on top of the £600 he paid as a deposit towards securing the two-bedroom home in Dalgety Bay he shares with his wife and baby.
The first he knew there was a problem was Monday of this week when his landlord told him she had not received the money due to her and that Clear Lets no longer existed.
”She had not had any money we had paid as a deposit and for rent,” said the man, who asked to remain anonymous. ”We’ve since been told the firm has been sold to an Edinburgh-based company which didn’t want the staff or the building. All they wanted was the property portfolios.
”That was apparently two weeks ago, which is when we signed our contract. They obviously knew at that point they weren’t going to exist any more.”
The Courier was also contacted by two landlords, one of whom said she had not received payment from Clear Lets for over four months.
A police spokesman said that, while the issue was essentially a civil matter, an inquiry had been opened into the Clear Lets issue due to the volume of complaints.
”Everyone who contacts us now will have a statement taken from them,” he said.