MyHomez Warning

PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES HOUSE ADVERTISED ON MYHOMEZ WEBSITE

2009-03-23T00:26:00.003Z

Looks like the boys over at MyHomez will be hard at work editing on Monday morning their website after further references to Providence Properties were found. A three bedroom house on Vesper Place, Kirkstall, advertised on the MyHomez website, contains the following sentence: "Providence Properties offer for rent this three bedroom semi detached property pleasantly positioned on a popular quiet cul-de-sac". Check it out for yourself here.

And just for prosperity here's a jpeg file:

PROVIDENCE LINKS WITH THE STUDENT PROPERTY SHOP UNCOVERED

2009-02-19T12:26:00.002Z

An investigation by Leeds Student has found links between Providence Properties and the new property company that moved into their old offices on Victoria Road, The Student Property Shop.

Although Nadia Iqbal, the director of The Student Property Shop has denied any links with Providence Properties, she does admit to employing Providence staff and taking over Providence's portfolio of properties (Tariq Zaman of BBC Watchdog fame was also seen putting up the new signs).

UNIPOL have also issued a warning about possible links between The Student Property Shop and Providence Properties:

"The Student Property Shop [is a] name that appears to be linked with Providence Properties. There are still a high number of complaints against Providence Properties and Tariq Zaman for non return of deposits. If you are looking for a property to rent make sure you get the contract checked at the Student Advice Centre before signing up."

The Student Property Shop is not UNIPOL accredited and is also not registered with Companies House, which is a legal requirement for limited companies in England. It is also worth noting that following my last blog post, identifying a link between The Student Property Shop and MyHomez due to the source code of the Student Property Shop's website, that website has since been removed...

http://www.leedsstudent.org/ls1/news/providence-links-uncovered.html

New property company moves into Providence Properties' "old" office

2009-01-23T14:40:00.003Z

The Student Property Shop has moved into 72 Victoria Road, Leeds, which of course was the office Providence Properties were operating out of until heat from mounting county orders and BBC Watchdog investigations forced the Zaman family to shut shop and start letting properties through MyHomez instead. Perhaps 72 Victoria Road has a magical aura attached to it making it a magnet for property companies? Or perhaps The Student Property Shop can explain why in the page source of their website it links to the MyHomez website? Oh dear...

MYHOMEZ REACT TO THIS BLOG BUT STILL DON'T GET IT!

2008-11-25T15:17:00.003Z

MyHomez have acted after reading this previous blog entry about the page source of their website containing the phrase "WHY USE PROVIDENCE". On viewing the page source of the MyHomez website today, I have discovered that they have changed the offending phrase to read "WHY USE MYHOMEZ" instead. I am actually a little surprised MyHomez (or Providence Properties) haven't been in touch to notify me of the update.

Fortunately, MyHomez (or Providence Properties) have STILL forgot something very important about websites. Google save a cached version of all websites (oh dear I hear them saying at MyHomez!). So, if you search for "MyHomez" in Google, you will see directly underneath where the MyHomez website comes up, a link called "cached". This allowed me to see the MyHomez website as it was on 16th November 2008, and low and behold, the cached version still contains the phrase "WHY USE PROVIDENCE" in its page source.

Just in case MyHomez were thinking of informing me (or "somebody else") that I had written something that was not true, I have saved a copy of the website for prosperity and to prove that phrase was included.

You can't be too careful with the libel laws, especially considering the threats from MyHomez to take legal action against various people (who, lets face it, have a right as a consumer to give their opinions on the service provided by the Zaman family). That is why I have been extremely careful on what I have written on this blog to ensure that not only is everything said true, but there is plenty of evidence to prove that it is true as well.

THE MYSTERY OF 52A RICHMOND AVENUE

2008-11-24T19:47:00.005Z

Providence Lets, the company set up by Providence Properties to "hold" tenants' deposits, has as its registered business address "52A Richmond Avenue", which we now know is just a block of garages. But now mystery surrounds the date on which Providence Lets actually moved to this address. According to Companies House records, Providence Lets changed to that address on 7th March 2006. But according to Leeds City Council planning application records, planning permission was not granted for land "adjacent to 52 Richmond Avenue" until 20th November 2006, over 10 months after Providence Lets changed their address to there. In fact, we can see from Leeds City Council records that a "MR K M ZAMAN" had been trying to get planning permission to build a set of garages there since April 2003.

To check out the planning application details for the land "adjacent to 52 Richmond Avenue" with Leeds City Council's planning department, please click here and use the following application case reference number in the relevant search box: 06/04214/FU

This is a list of previous addresses that have been assigned to Providence Lets throughout its existence, and the dates on which they changed the address:

15/02/06
44 UPPER BELGRAVE ROAD
CLIFTON
BRISTOL
BS8 2XN

21/02/06
113 LEEDS ROAD
SHIPLEY
BD18 1DF

22/02/06
52 RICHMOND AVENUE
LEEDS
WEST YORKSHIRE

07/03/06
52A RICHMOND AVENUE
LEEDS
WEST YORKSHIRE

It's also worth noting that on each of the planning applications other than the final one (which was rejected), the address is only referred to as "Land adjacent to 52 Richmond Avenue". Indeed, Royal Mail have no record of a 52A Richmond Avenue, as you can see by the following screen print from their website:

So there you go, the mystery of "52A" Richmond Avenue, well and truly unresolved! Did the Zamans, who now run MyHomez, build garages for Providence Lets prior to being given planning permission from Leeds City Council? Does 52A Richmond Avenue actually exist anywhere in the real world?

Who knows!

"WHY USE PROVIDENCE," ASKS MYHOMEZ!

2008-11-20T10:16:00.002Z

A secret section of the MyHomez website reveals the phrase "why use Providence", which was intended to be one of the menu options from the website.

To see this, visit the MyHomez website, click "view" and select "source" (or "page source" in Firefox). You will see a list of html that make up the MyHomez website, and about a quarter of the way down you'll see this:

Now isn't that strange? Why would MyHomez "accidentally" include a section in their website called "Why use Providence"? (Which presumably is a section outlining all the benefits landlords will get if they choose to rent their houses through Providence, or is that MyHomez?!)

FURTHER LINKS BETWEEN PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES AND MYHOMEZ

2008-11-19T16:51:00.001Z

Despite MyHomez claiming there is no link with Providence Properties (or was that PP claiming no link with MyHomez, I get confused sometimes because the staff and company officials are the same), somebody forgot to tell the people that run their respective websites.

Check these two properties out that I saw today (note the dates on the images), one on Providence Properties' website, and one on MyHomez website. Now if you ask me, I'd say that these two images are for the same property, but see what you think...

If you'd like to find further proof for yourself, please check out the property searches of Providence Properties and MyHomez

WEBSITE INFORMATION LINKS PROVIDENCE TO MYHOMEZ

2008-11-14T22:36:00.001Z

According to Providence's "solicitor", there is no link between MyHomez and Providence Properties (despite all being operated by the same people but anyway). Indeed, anybody claiming that there is a link will have legal action taken against them (ooo err!). This is what their solicitor had to say on blagger.com:

"CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS SITE ARE ADVISED. LEGAL CONSULTATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE BY THE COMPANY MY HOMEZ LIMITED IN RELATION TO ALLEGATIONS THIS COMPANY HAS A BUSINESS CONNECTION TO THE SUBJECT OF THIS BLAGGER. AFTER INVESTIGATION THESE ALLEGATIONS ARE FOUND TO BE UNTRUE. FOLLOWING REPRESENTATIONS TO THE BBC ANY SUCH ALLEGTIONS ON RELATED SITES PROCURED BY THEM WERE REMOVED. THIS CONSTITUTES DEFAMATION AND LIBEL BY PARTIES MAKING THESE ALLEGATIONS. A LIBELLOUS STATEMENT IS ONE WHICH IS RECORDED WITH A DEGREE OF PERMANENCE AND STATEMENTS MADE ON BULLETIN BOARDS SUCH AS THIS SITE, FACEBOOK OR ANY GOOGLE FACILITY OR ANY INDEPENDENTLY RAISED SITE FALL WITHIN THIS CATEGORY. VIGOROUS ATTEMPTS ARE BEING MADE TO IDENTIFY ALL CONTRIBUTORS TO THESE SITES WHO HAVE MADE THIS ALLEGATION AGAINST THE COMPANY AND APPROPRIATE ACTION/REMEDY WILL BE TAKEN AGAINST THESE PEOPLE. THIS POSTING IS FOR GENERAL ADVICE ONLY TO PROTECT MY CLIENT AND BEARS NO INPUT TO THE CONTENT OF THIS BLAGGER."

Hmmmmm, after an "investigation" these "allegations" are found to be untrue? Well as you can see, I've been doing my own investigations and have found further proof of a link between MyHomez, Providence Properties and Providence Lets: Each website was set up by Providence Properties director Mohammed Ishaq!

Look at these "whois" reports for each website:

So, each website was set up by Mohammed Ishaq (who is the director of Providence Properties). Now why would the director of Providence Properties be setting up a website for MyHomez if there is no link between the two companies? Strange! Stranger still is the fact that MyHomez registered address for their website is 72 Victoria Road, Leeds, LS6 1DL - which happens to be the registered business address of Providence Properties!

Make of that what you will...

MYHOMEZ IS RUN BY THE SAME FAMILY THAT RUN PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES

2008-11-04T05:32:00.005Z

Many students from Leeds will be only too aware of the estate agents named Providence Properties. What they may not be aware of is that the same family (the Zaman's) that run Providence Properties also runs the new estate agents on Cardigan Road, Headingley, called MyHomez.

Providence Properties have been in the press many times of the last few years for their unscrupulous business conduct in which they have pocketed thousands of pounds from tenants by refusing to hand their bonds back. As you can imagine, Providence Properties' reputation has been dragged through the mud, explaining why the Zaman family feel they need a fresh start with a fresh company name - MyHomez.

You can read about what the Zamans got upto whilst at Providence by reading this article in the Yorkshire Evening Post, this article in the Yorkshire Post, and of course, not forgetting their burst into national fame with their appearance on BBC's Watchdog, which you can watch here.

What the Zaman family did whilst at Providence Properties was to set up a completely unrelated company called Providence Lets into which tenants were tricked into paying their deposits. Tenants just assumed their deposits were held by Providence Properties. This deception would be crucial to the Zaman family when it came to pocketing tenants' deposits at the end of the tenancy. Providence Lets' registered address is 52A Richmond Avenue, Leeds, LS6 1BZ (with company house, according to Providence Lets their postcode is LS6 1BD) but this is just a garage and nothing else. This means that Providence Lets are protected from court services like bailiffs, and, of course, nobody will be in when anyone goes round and they are completely uncontactable (indeed, Providence Properties will have nothing to do with tenants at the end of the contact, instead insisting they contact Lets).

So how can we prove that the Zamans are in charge at MyHomez like they were at Providence Properties? Well take a look at the following Companies House appointments for MyHomez, Providence Lets and Providence Properties:

MyHomez
Address: 148 Cardigan Road, Leeds, LS6 1LU
Director: Bashirt Zaman (of 48 Manor Drive, Leeds, LS6 1DD)
Secretary: Azeem Zaman (of 48 Manor Drive, Leeds, LS6 1DD)

Providence Properties
Address: 72 Victoria Road, Leeds, LS6 1DL
Director: Tariq Zaman (of 48 Manor Drive, Leeds, LS6 1DD)
Director: Mohammed Ishaq (of 17 Ghyll Road, West Park, Leeds)
Secretary: Bashirt Zaman (of 48 Manor Drive, Leeds, LS6 1DD)
Secretary: Tariq Zaman (of 48 Manor Drive, Leeds, LS6 1DD)

Providence Lets
Address: 52A Richmond Avenue, Leeds, LS6 1BZ
Director: Azeem Zaman (of 48 Manor Drive, Leeds, LS6 1DD)

So you decide, are the same people who ran Providence Properties the same as those currently running MyHomez?

You might also find it useful to check out the ever helpful "Victims of Providence" Google group which you apply to join here.