Nina Lloyd

Full PA article on why her estate agency failed to apply for the rental licence: The lettings agency involved in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ rental arrangements said it had apologised to her for an “oversight” that led to a failure to obtain a licence. Gareth Martin, owner of Harvey & Wheeler, said: “We alert all our clients to the need for a licence. In an effort to be helpful our previous property manager offered to apply for a licence on these clients’ behalf, as shown in the correspondence. That property manager suddenly resigned on the Friday before the tenancy began on the following Monday. “Unfortunately, the lack of application was not picked up by us as we do not normally apply for licences on behalf of our clients; the onus is on them to apply. We have apologised to the owners for this oversight. “At the time the tenancy began, all the relevant certificates were in place and if the licence had been applied for, we have no doubt it would have been granted. “Our clients would have been under the impression that a licence had been applied for. Although it is not our responsibility to apply, we did offer to help with this. “We deeply regret the issue caused to our clients as they would have been under the impression that a licence had been applied for.”