Find your current MP here.
Email to your MP and copy in casework@somerfordgroverenters.com
Subject line something like: My old landlord is avoiding rent repayment orders by phoenixing his companies
Attach this PDF of the Insolvency Service complaint.
Here is the body of the email – customise it with your name and address, your MPs name and your name at the end:
Dear MP NAME GOES HERE,
My name is XXX and my address and postcode is XXX.
I am a constituent of yours and a member of Somerford Grove Renters. We are a tenants association for people who live or lived in the buildings around Somerford Grove in Stoke Newington. We discovered that our billionaire landlord, John Christodoulou, did not hold HMO licenses and, as a group, we took the landlord to the First Tier Tribunal to claim rent repayment orders. Our case of renters seeking justice attracted significant public attention in national and international press (see: www.somerfordgroverenters.com/timeline ). However, justice has not been served and we are therefore asking for your assistance with the Insolvency Service and to raise this issue in parliament.
The landlord owes 24,000 pounds from the first case his companies lost in the Upper Tribunal (case reference [2022] UKUT 164 (LC)) on 23 June 2021 that has still not been paid. The Upper Tribunal is also owed fees that have not been paid. They potentially owe 480,000 in other RROs before the tribunal including mine, these will be heard in the First Tier Tribunal on 10 February 2024 under case LON/00AM/HMF/2021-VAR and the verdict is expected 4-6 weeks after.
The landlord lost the first of eighteen cases, then delayed the rest being heard by launching an unsuccessful appeal in the Upper Tribunal. In the meantime, he transferred ownership of the buildings to new companies, ordered everyone in the buildings to sign rental contracts with the new company and removed all assets from the existing companies, in what we believe was an improper transfer of assets designed to avoid payment.
More than two years since winning the first case in the Upper Tribunal, we still have not been paid. This leaves us with 16 outstanding cases against companies with no assets, adding up to a potential total value of £403,800.
In addition, the landlord did not purchase HMO licenses for the new companies and has continued to violate the law by moving groups of 3 or more people into new flats.
This is a clear case of a billionaire using the court and tribunal system and the corporate veil to avoid the regulations put in place to protect renters.
The Renters Rights Act currently before parliament would hold company directors liable for Rent Repayment Orders, avoiding this scenario. This did not apply in our case, but we filed a complaint to the Insolvency Service asking them to hold the directors accountable. For this to be successful and for us to receive justice, we need your support.
We have restored the companies to the company register and the FTT are currently hearing the remaining 16 cases. It is a matter of urgency that action is taken now before the companies are dissolved again.
We have written to the Insolvency Service (their case reference number: PV/6194/2024) asking them to investigate for fraud. As your constituent, I request your help to support that application by writing to them and raising this issue in parliament.
We believe this is an example of what the Insolvency Service calls phoenixing - the companies (100% owned by John Christodoulou) continue to collect rent from the same tenants but are not liable for the violations in property licensing law.
Diane Abbott, my MP when I lived in the building filed an early day motion about the behaviour of our landlord - https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/57688/renters-rights-in-the-covid19-pandemic - and Wikipedia details other lawsuits he has been involved in against renters and leaseholders - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christodoulou#Controversies
Attached, please find our letter to the Insolvency Service.
I am grateful for your support.
Attach this PDF of the Insolvency Service complaint.
You can also click this mailto link to open the mail and then just fill in your MPs email, your details and attach the pdf.