The FCA has secured an order of £4m against an unauthorised mortgage broker and its associates who exploited vulnerable consumers.
In November 2021, the regulator had obtained a judgement against the defendants — London Property Investments (U.K) Limited (LPI); NPI Holdings Limited; their director Daniel Stevens; and his father, Tony Stevens — for arranging mortgages without FCA authorisation and exploiting 45 vulnerable customers who were in financial difficulty.
The defendants had arranged high-interest, unaffordable bridging loans for consumers about to be evicted from their homes and taking “huge” fees.
In some cases, the defendants bought homes for less than their value from owners who were facing repossession and then rented the properties back to them, without being authorised to arrange mortgage contracts or sale-and-rent-back agreements.
According to the latest judgement, Together and LendInvest were two, legitimate specialist lenders from which NPI obtained the new funding for the refinances.
Mr Justice Fancourt found that LPI had contravened the general prohibition in section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) in relation to 26 further individuals identified by the FCA — taking the total number to 71 affected consumers.
In addition, the judge found Tony and Daniel Stevens to have been both knowingly concerned in these contraventions.
The four defendants were ordered to pay around £4m to the FCA.
The watchdog will need to recover funds before any compensation can be paid to affected individuals.
Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “These sham brokers preyed on vulnerable people who were struggling financially and trapped them with exorbitant fees.
“The defendants used a smokescreen of deception which cost consumers and lenders dearly.
“This was a complex case, but the ruling shows that these were serious breaches of our rules.
“It is only right that we can now pursue LPI, NPI, Daniel and Tony Stevens to compensate for the losses they caused the victims.”
