Greedy Buy-To-Let Couple With £1.2m Property Empire Sentenced For Fraud

Money, Money, Money: Savita & Naveen Seth

A VAT inspector and her husband, who deceived mortgage lenders and the taxman while claiming tens of thousands in benefits as they collected rents of £1.2m from their property empire, have been sentenced.

Buy-to-let barons Savita, 46, and ex-IT consultant Naveen Seth, 47, rented out twelve properties - often divided into bedsits to maximise profits - while swindling £68,352 in tax credits, Isleworth Crown Court was told.

The couple, of 7 Manor Waye, Uxbridge collected another £500,000 during the scam and even rented out three bedsits at the matrimonial home - plus parking spaces in their driveway.

Yesterday Savita was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Naveen received three years and eight months imprisonment last Friday.

Police found the book: 'A Guide To Becoming A HMO (Homes of Multiple Occupation) Millionaire' during a raid on their home and discovered they also had a Spanish villa in Malaga, a two-bedroom apartment in Orlando, Florida and a seaside caravan.

They added two commercial properties to their portfolio, bought at auction for £135,000 and £111,000 cash respectively while Naveen had no obvious income and Savita was a £20,000 a year civil servant with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Home Seth Home: Fraud Run From Uxbridge Property

During this period the couple, who have two children, enjoyed holidays in in Spain, USA, Canada, Egypt, Turkey and Morocco.

Joff Parsons, Head of Internal Governance Criminal Investigations at HMRC said: "As an HMRC employee Savita was in a privileged position and knew better than to hide her income.

"She was motivated by greed and betrayed the trust that was placed in her and cheated the tax system she was employed to uphold.

"HMRC will not tolerate misconduct. We will thoroughly investigate any allegation of wrong doing and bring those responsible before the courts so justice can be served."

Prosecutor Miss Ailsa Williamson told the jury at the start of the couple's trial: "They lied about their incomes, they rented out most of the properties and got income, but never told the taxman about that income.

"They sold three of them, but did not tell the taxman about the profit they made and the icing on the cake was tax credits they claimed by lying about their income."

The Seth's falsely inflated their incomes to banks and building societies to get mortgages, with Naveen representing himself as a high-earning IT consultant even when claiming Jobseekers Allowance, the jury were told.

"Some of the lies were blatant because he was made redundant in 2002," added Miss Williamson. "What is galling is Savita was working for HMRC as a tax compliance officer specialising in VAT.

"Navita was earning a living running a property company with his wife, but not telling the taxman about it."

As well as their eight-bedroom matrimonial home the couple bought homes in Docklands; Hayes; Uxbridge; Harrow; Hillingdon; Colindale and Bracknell.

The two commercial buildings were in Bingley, North Yorkshire and Cumbria, consisting of a restaurant and takeaway with flats above.

"Savita played an active role in the renting of these properties and they both attempted to purchase many other properties.

"If they were just living on her salary as a VAT inspector they were making it go a very long way."

The court heard the couple deliberately avoided employing letting agents who deducted tax and investigators calculated their rental income as totalling £1.2m, with another £500,000 going into their bank accounts. 

Both Seth's claimed they did not know Capital Gains Tax was owed on the three properties they sold and denied telling deliberate lies in mortgage applications.

Naveen claimed he was "losing money" and made no profit from the rentals, explaining: "I live a frugal lifestyle. I went to a property seminar and got caught up in it."

He claimed the holidays were: "Cheap last-minute deals."

Savita and Naveen were convicted of obtaining a money transfer by deception only in relation to their Colindale and Hillingdon properties.

Both were convicted of cheating the public revenue between January 1, 1995 and February 12, 2012 by failing to declare tax on rental income and capital gains tax.

They were also found guilty of fraudulently obtaining tax credits between January 1, 2003 and January 31, 2011.

Naveen alone was convicted of forgery between April 10, 2006 and February 2, 2012, namely a letter from Vishaka Peitris solicitors.

They also face Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings.