The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has obtained an order from the High Court against Middlesbrough-based businessman Peter Hall. It preventing him from carrying on consumer credit or ancillary credit business as defined in the Consumer Credit Act and holding himself out as legitimately licensed to engage in consumer credit or ancillary business under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

It also prevents him from engaging in threatening, intimidatory or violent behaviour in connection with his consumer credit or ancillary credit business.

Hall, who trades as Westminster Services, is a private landlord, estate agent and property management agent who offers credit to tenants living in the properties he manages.

This is an interim enforcement order obtained under the Enterprise Act 2002, and prevents Hall from engaging in these business activities with immediate effect. The OFT has already commenced formal action seeking to revoke Mr Hall’s consumer credit licence.

This new order will remain in place until the conclusion of this process or further court order. He has until 20 April 2010 to appeal the court’s decision. The OFT has also begun a process by which it intends to ban Hall from engaging in estate agency work.

After investigating information received from the North East Illegal Money Lending Team, the OFT concluded that Hall fraudulently obtained a consumer credit licence in September 2007 by failing to declare 23 unspent criminal convictions, including offences of theft, harassment and Grevious Bodily Harm, in breach of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. As a result he was misleading consumers into believing he was a legitimately licensed trader in breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs).