Property developer guilty of fraud over fake certificates

A building company director has been found guilty of providing false building work completion certificates during the sale of flats in a development in Newmarket.

Wayne Murfet, who was boss of Lors Homes, supplied 36 fake Building Control Completion Certificates to purchasers of flats on a complex called The Grosvenor in Newmarket High Street.

In a case brought by Suffolk Trading Standards, Colchester Magistrates Court heard the certificates were supplied to purchasers of flats in the complex as part of the conveyancing process.

Trading Standards were alerted in 2019 by West Suffolk Council Building Control.

The certificates were similar to those issued by Building Control but had not been issued by them.

The certificates were supplied to the purchasers by their own solicitors, who in turn had received them via the developer’s solicitors.

The buyers then purchased their properties believing them to have been signed off.

Since this discovery, West Suffolk Building Control inspected and found breaches of building regulations and fire safety concerns with the building.

As a result, a 24-hour waking watch had to be installed in the building.

The court heard the building had since been sold by the developer and West Suffolk Building Control was collaborating with the new owners to have things put right so that it meets building regulations.

During the investigation it then emerged a further false building control completion certificate had been supplied by Murfet to a purchaser of a property in Cambridgeshire through another company of his called Murfet (Burrough Green) Limited.

Murfet, aged 41, of Freckenham Road, Chippenham, denied 14 counts of dishonestly and intending to make a gain by failing to disclose information to the purchaser which he was under a legal duty to disclose, namely that the building works had not been certified as complete by Building Control of West Suffolk Council contrary to section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006.

He also denied two counts of making or supplying an article for use in fraud contrary to section 7 of the Fraud Act 2006.

Sentencing is scheduled for 1^st October.

Graham Crisp, Head of Suffolk Trading Standards, said:

“The actions of Murfet and Lors Homes caused significant detriment to the purchasers of the flats.

“They had no idea the certificates they received were not genuine and that their flats had not been signed off, and consequently the purchases would not have gone through when they did.

“Murfet’s fraudulent actions have caused substantial loss to the purchasers and created a significant risk to people’s safety and property.”

Councillor Steve Wiles, Suffolk County Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection, said:

“This prosecution is the result of long and complex investigation by Suffolk Trading Standards and I commend the team for its hard work in bringing this man to justice.

“We have strong building regulations in this country and that is because they are there to protect the public.

“Wayne Murfet chose to ignore those regulations and will be paying a heavy price for doing so. I welcome this judgement from the court.

Councillor Jim Thorndyke, Cabinet Member for Planning at West Suffolk Council said:

“The council’s building control service provides a safeguard to protect residents. It tells buyers that the council’s service has carried out checks and provided an assurance that the new homes are safe for people to live in and meet modern standards and regulations.

“By bypassing these checks and providing fake completion certificates, Murfet effectively conned people into spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on flats that were not signed off as complete by the council.

“These are serious offences. We have supported Suffolk Trading Standards in bringing forward this prosecution and we welcome today’s outcome.”

Mr Crisp said that Murfet and Lors Homes had made little attempt to rectify the problems before selling the building and that the company had now been placed into liquidation.