An unauthorised mortgage broker and its associates who exploited vulnerable consumers have been ordered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to pay an order of £4m.

London Property Investments (LPI) arranged mortgages while NPI Holdings bought properties and rented them back to the sellers, both without FCA authorisation.

Daniel Stevens, the director of LPI and NPI, and his father, Tony Stevens, were also found liable.

The high court found the breaches to be “serious contraventions” which involved “high levels of culpability including deception” of the consumers and the lenders, which took advantage of the consumers’ vulnerability.

Executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, Steve Smart, said: “These sham brokers preyed on vulnerable people who were struggling financially and trapped them with exorbitant fees.

“The defendants used a smokescreen of deception which cost consumers and lenders dearly.”

The four defendants have been ordered to pay around £4m to the FCA, and the regulator will need to recover funds before any compensation can be paid to affected individuals.

LPI is required to remove restrictions registered against the titles of four properties. The FCA has suggested that these restrictions were used to force individuals to pay “exorbitant” fees to LPI, and that if these fees were not paid then the individual could not sell or remortgage their property. In some cases, this trapped individuals into high interest bridging loans.

“This was a complex case, but the ruling shows that these were serious breaches of our rules,” Samrt added. “It is only right that we can now pursue LPI, NPI, Daniel and Tony Stevens to compensate for the losses they caused the victims.”

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