AN ESTATE agent and its multimillionaire founder are facing a Scotland Yard investigation after an admission that the firm ripped down rivals’ boards.

Foxtons said that it “did instruct our sub-contractors to destroy rivals’ boards” after The Times reported that up to 500 were removed each week in an attempt to gain a larger slice of the London property market.

Several rival agents are now considering civil action against Foxtons and one, Winkworth, has contacted Sir John Stevens, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, to lodge a formal complaint. Simon Agace, Winkworth’s chairman, wrote to Sir John yesterday complaining that the destruction of boards was not, in his opinion, a petty act of theft or criminal damage but a crime that was organised to increase market share.

Boards outside properties are the biggest source of new business for many estate agents, with some saying that about 40 per cent of new clients come to them because they have seen boards in the area where they wish to buy or sell.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “Any allegation of crime will be looked at and considered, and appropriate action taken.”

Hundreds of Foxtons employees were called to a crisis meeting yesterday at the company’s business centre in Chiswick, West London, to be briefed about the growing scandal.

Charles Lankester, a crisis management consultant retained by Foxtons, said at the weekend that the firm had instructed its sub-contractors “to destroy rivals’ boards”. He was not available for further comment yesterday and nobody at Foxtons would discuss the matter. In admitting that Foxtons had commissioned acts of thefts and criminal damage, Mr Lankester insisted that it had done so for only “a limited period in 2001”. Callers to Foxtons’ branches were also told yesterday that this practice had stopped two years ago.

However, documents in the possession of The Times show that the systematic destruction of rival boards was being committed on a large scale as long ago as 1997. Foxtons branch managers would sometimes send faxes to sub-contractors identifying the address of the board and the name of the agent to be targeted.

Each faxed order form bears a transmission line that identifies clearly the Foxtons office where it was filled out, with the date and time of day on which it was sent. A form from the Chiswick office on November 27, 1997, referring to a Foxtons rival, Faron Sutaria, says of a property at 53 Homefield Road, W4: “Remove our board & Faron’s board, please put their board around the corner.” The job was completed the next day.

One of the order forms in the possession of The Times bears the signature of Jon Hunt, 50, the founder and owner of Foxtons, who appears on The Sunday Times rich list with an estimated personal fortune of £154 million.

Steven Hewitt, who ran Foxtons’ sub-contractors for seven years, has told The Times that his firm, PB Signs, was established with help from Mr Hunt and says that Mr Hunt was aware of his activities. Several employees of PB Signs have corroborated this, as have former Foxtons staff, who confirmed that the destruction of rivals’ boards was common practice.

Foxtons still appeared to be damaging rivals’ boards as recently as December. Police in Acton, West London, wrote to Steven Hewitt on December 9, 2002, after one of his staff was caught interfering with boards in Ealing. The letter, on Metropolitan Police notepaper, said that the officer was “investigating an allegation of criminal damage” in Denbigh Road, Ealing. “It is alleged that a male in his late twenties with long hair was seen to damage a number of estate agents boards in this road, and then make good their escape in a vehicle . . . registered to you,” the letter said.

Last week Foxtons’ lawyers, Mischcon de Reya, claimed that Mr Hewitt had been trying to blackmail their client for some time.

Stephen Carr-Smith, the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA), said yesterday that the affair bolstered the argument for compulsory membership of his scheme. The ombudsman’s code of practice prohibits the removal of rivals’ boards, and Mr Carr-Smith can fine members up to £25,000 for breaches of the code.

Foxtons is not a member, and legislation would be needed to compel all estate agents to join.

Mr Carr-Smith said: “Allegations such as this don’t help the reputation of estate agents, many of whom are doing their best to do a difficult job as well as they can.”

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