By Chalotte Webster-
A Director of an Estate Agents disqualified for price rigging is feeling suicidal after being told he must pay his share of a £600k fine imposed on him by the CMA, The Eye Of Media.Com can reveal.
Action by the Competition and Markets Authority resulted in the directors of two Berkshire estate agencies being banned for their part in an illegal price-fixing cartel last month.
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They were Stephen Jones Director at Richard Worth Estate Agents and Neil Mackenzie Director at Michael Hardy Estate Agent
However, Neil Mckenzie , who was a director of Hardy & Company (Wokingham) Limited, Michael Hardy & Company (Lettings) Limited and Geocharbert UK Limited has been reportedly feeling suicidal over the entire affair. He is having to sell his property to foot the bill.
His pal William Adam told The Eye Of Media.Com:
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”They made a lot of money from the property deals, invested a bit, but lived the good life. Having to fork out £200k is a big ask for Neil. It has to be done . but he is feeling very suicidal. He has tried to top himself a few times over it. I think it has mainly been the embarrassment of him being openly exposed.
He has many good friends, but those who didn’t like him have ridiculed him over the whole thing”. Mr Jones did not respond to efforts to contact him by this organisation”.
For almost 7 years, Jones colluded with three other companies in setting minimum commission rates for the sale of residential properties in Wokingham, Winnersh, Crowthorne, Bracknell and Warfield – where they were the leading estate agents at that time.
This involved the firms exchanging confidential information on pricing and holding meetings to make sure all members enforced and maintained the agreed minimum rates.
The result was that local home-owners were denied the chance of securing the best possible deal when selling their property because they were unable to meaningfully shop around all their local agents for better commission rates.
Stephen Jones and Neil Mackenzie were fined and banned after abusing their position as directors at estate agents Richard Worth and Michael Hardy, respectively, from September 2008 to May 2015.
Jones and Mackenzie were both disqualified for six and a half years for their roles in the cartel, prohibiting them from acting as directors of any companies or be involved in the management of any company based in England, Scotland or Wales during this time.
The CMA did not fine the fourth agent Romans, as it was the first to confess its participation in the arrangement, under the CMA’s leniency programme and co-operated with the investigation.
Mackenzie, who was previously a respected member of his community is struggling to come to terms with his new image as a cheat. The fine is expected to set him back, but who should be able to manage it.
Cartel
The CMA investigation which found that four estate agents had operated a cartel for almost seven years. They exchanged confidential information on pricing and held meetings to make sure all members of the cartel enforced and maintained the agreed minimum rates.
Homeowners in the affected areas were denied the chance of securing the best possible deal when selling their property because they were unable to meaningfully shop around all their local estate agents for a better commission rate, the CMA said
As a result of the investigation, three of the four estate agents – including Richard Worth and Michael Hardy – were fined over £600,000 for their participation in the cartel.
Selling your home can be a stressful and expensive experience, and one that shouldn’t be made harder by estate agents conspiring to cheat homeowners out of the best deal’, said CMA executive director of enforcement Michael Grenfell said of the disqualification: ‘Company directors have an important responsibility to make sure their firms don’t take part in this kind of anti-competitive behaviour.
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Image:thenegotiator.co.uk
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