Estate agent fined for 'fly-boarding' homes not for sale

An estate agent put up sold signs on properties which had never been for sale, trading standards officers said today.

Mark Halls, of Debenham, Suffolk, pretended that his firm had sold houses to increase customer confidence, officials said.

Halls, managing director of Seaton's Estate Agency - which has branches in Woodbridge, Suffolk and Ipswich, Suffolk - admitted five breaches of the Trade Descriptions Act, said Suffolk County Council's trading standards department.

A department spokeswoman said magistrates in Ipswich had today been told that Halls had been guilty of "flyboarding" at properties in Ipswich and Melton, Suffolk between October 2006 and May 2007.

She said the offences related to a total of five houses.

"A member of the public from Melton complained to trading standards when she suspected that a neighbouring property which had a Seaton sold sign had not actually been on the market," said the department spokeswoman.

"After investigations it emerged that sold signs had been placed on another four properties in the last year.

"Mr Halls claims that these misleading signs were put up... in the hope that it would stimulate business."

She said Halls was "experienced and qualified" and had been an estate agent for 28 years.

Halls, 46, had been fined a total of £7,500 by magistrates, said the department spokeswoman.