WINGING IT-THE VR WINGS LTD WAY

There is a new scourge of K&C and London landlords....
Remember the name VR Wings: it will save you tens of thousands of pounds.

The owner of a small Chelsea flat was away for a couple of years. Foolishly, he asked Sotheby’s Reality to rent out the flat:they did; to Neasden based VR Wings
Yes, only an idiotic letting agent could assume a location agent would be based in a Neasden industrial unit, storing spices and other comestibles.

It should have set alarm bells jangling at Sotheby's Unreality!

VR WINGS  GRAND NEASDEN HQ!

The agreement named the occupants as a Jeddah couple-let’s call them the Al Fraudi's. 

On behalf of the Al Fraudi's, VR Wings paid 3 months rent up front.

Immediately, VR Wings started to break the sub-letting and noise disturbance clause in the agreement. 

It put the flat with booking.com and a Arab owned Edgware Rd agency, London Victoria Estates.

So, from March this year, the flat has been sub-let to global riff raff looking for a cheapish bed for the night...well £300 cash per night.

By now, noise and security issues are seriously affecting the building. Sometimes VR Wings stuffs 7/8 partying people into the flat....
So the freeholder’s solicitor tells the owner to terminate VR Wings’s tenancy and reminds the  leaseholder they are in breach of their lease as long as  VR Wings continues to sub-let and allow anti-social behaviour.

So, at a cost of thousands, eviction notices are served on VR Wings. 
VR Wings laughs it off.....saying “ we are going to continue to sublet and it will take you 6 months to get us out: the only people who will make money are the men in wigs”.

They are right... the legal system is so biased against the owner that unscrupulous and dishonest types can make fortunes. 
According to Douglas and Gordon (also hit) and other big name agents, this illegal activity is now rife, London wide.

How will it all play out?

So as not to prejudice the 6 month eviction process the landlord has to refuse to take further rent. 
VR Wings will continue to sub-let at £300 a night to dodgy people.
It will end up generating, in those 6 months, pure profit of close to £80,000.

By now the poor landlord/owner is getting bills of several thousand pounds from the ‘men in wigs’. In addition, the freeholder’s solicitor is serving notices on him and more legal bills of thousands roll in.

Relaxed about it all is VR Wings 
They knows our legal system grants total immunity so continue the game with equanimity.

The moral of the story is this...be very careful when you have dealings with likes of VR Wings and the Al Fraudi's. 
They will cost you a fortune and much misery.

It's time the government introduced a ultra fast track court system to deal with gaping hole in the Landlord and Tenant Act. 
It should take just a week to get a liar out, not the current 6 months.
Paula Felton of Feltons Solicitors, the highly regarded property specialist based in Knightsbridge, is calling for urgent changes to legislation to stop this abuse.