Foxtons sues couple ‘who stole database to poach clients for new agency’

Timothy Hassell is accused of misusing confidential data "worth millions" to poach prized customers for his new central London firm, Draker Lettings.

The 32-year-old was an operations director and lettings manager with 12 years at Foxtons but resigned in January and started a rival business with his partner, Christopher Andrew. The business specialised in rental properties in Chelsea, Belgravia and Kensington.

Now Foxtons is demanding a minimum of £300,000 in damages from Mr Hassell and Mr Andrew, a co-director and shareholder of the new firm, who is also the chief executive of a boutique wealth management company.

Mr Hassell today admitted he was paying "the maximum possible price" for his "stupid" actions. He said: "I did something very stupid, and I have been made to pay the maximum possible price, financially and emotionally. I regret what I did. All I care about is running a good business."

In papers filed at the High Court, Foxtons accuses the couple of stealing "large amounts" of information relating to 2,500 clients, including the addresses of properties, landlords' bank and contact details, rental figures, fees charged and start and end dates for tenancies.

The estate agency chain spends more than £3 million a year on its "highly sensitive and valuable" client database, which it says is its "most important tool" for generating revenue.

A 19-page writ claims Mr Hassell secretly copied huge tracts from the database in the months before he quit. Print-outs were later seized during a court-ordered raid on Draker's premises 200 yards from Mr Hassell's former office in Sloane Square.

Mr Andrew, 37, described in court papers as Mr Hassell's "husband and business partner", would have known the information was confidential and conspired to use it steal Foxtons' business, the papers state.

He said the couple are now in the final stages of negotiations with Foxtons to reach an out-of-court settlement. "We are trying to settle so it does not have to go to court," he said.

"We regret what has happened. We regret that Tim's friends at Foxtons can't really speak to him any more. We regret we have upset Foxtons, and regret the costs on our side. It is going to be damaging financially to the company."

In July, Draker allegedly emailed at least 31 landlords on the database, announcing the new company in competition with Foxtons and touting for their business.

Foxtons claims Mr Hassell has so far admitted obtaining the business of one its landlords, a Mr L Neumann, to the value of nearly £2,000, and it believes Draker has many more "poached" clients on its books.

Foxtons is suing Mr Hassell, Mr Andrew and Draked for alleged infringements, including breach of contract and confidence, procurement, conspiracy and breach of copyright.

A senior figure at a London agency, said: "A client list like that is worth a hell of a lot of money — certainly many hundreds of thousands initially, and in the long run absolutely millions as lettings is a repeat business. An agency would take the theft of a client database extremely seriously, as it spends years building it up."

A spokesman for Foxtons said: "Because we are in the legal process at the moment it is not appropriate to comment until it is concluded."

Tainted story of a success

Foxtons was founded with a single branch in Notting Hill in 1981 by entrepreneur Jon Hunt and quickly became one of the most recognised high-street estate agents.

It has been criticised for its practices, accused of ramping up prices, hard-selling, confrontational phone calls and quoting unrealistic, high prices to sellers to get business.

After building up the company for 26 years, employing 1,600 people in London and 500 in the US, Hunt sold Foxtons in 2007 for £370 million to private equity firm BC Partners, just weeks before the credit crunch hit and the property market slumped.

It became a watchword for appallingly-timed deals, and BC spent much of the last year attempting to renegotiate the massive loans it took out to fund its takeover.

A revival in Foxtons' fortunes recently has reportedly prompted the company to buy back around £20 million of debt in the firm it lost control of last year.

Foxtons saw profits recover to £16.7 million in 2009 after the slumping housing market pushed it into the red the previous year.