Rob Horgan
ESTATE agents are being warned of a rogue trader’s property portals.
British conman Russell Lloyd – who is behind companies findmyspanishhome.com and home-search-Spain.com – has been exposed in the UK for illegal business practices.
Fuengirola-based Lloyd was outed on BBC watchdog show X-Ray for pressurising elderly people into giving him cash for building work that he then failed to do.
The Olive Press can reveal that he has a number of convictions in the UK relating to malpractice.
He was also banned from being a company director by UK Trading Standards after numerous illegitimate businesses were closed down by the authorities.
However, this has not stopped him setting up in Spain as a computer programmer.
Through his websites he claims to be ‘the most qualified computer coder in Spain’ and offers agents the opportunity to buy membership of his websites to display their properties.
“We do not need this kind of person operating on the coast,” Brian Berney, from Coast to Coast Properties in Sabinillas told the Olive Press.
“Most agents here look out for each other and it is good to see agents along the coast sharing information.”
Estepona-based agent Adam Neale from Terra Meridiana added: “If I was contacted by someone claiming they could transform my business online, the first thing I would ask for was independent evidence. If it couldn’t be independently verified I would not be using them.”
Neither Lloyd nor Find my Spanish Home provided comment when contacted by the Olive Press.
