What the tapes say and Coun Newton's response
A Polish migrant worker tries to get an appointment to view a property secretly records Angela Newton's response.
She tells him: "It's under application. We don't take money off more than one person at a time."
A British BBC employee then goes to set up a viewing for the same property.
He is met with the response from Mrs Newton: "When do you want to view?"
Later on Mrs Newton is seen going around a property with an undercover BBC journalist who is posing as a landlord who says he doesn't want to let it to migrant workers.
Mrs Newton responds: "They govern quite strongly with the racial discrimination act and various other things.
"What we have to do, we're quite careful. We've just got to say 'well, which ones do you want to look at?' and then when you ring them back you say 'I'm sorry that one's gone.'"
In response AP Sales told the BBC it does not deny access to anyone.
It adds that one-in-three of its homes are let to non-British nationals and it also has foreign-born landlords on its books.
* Coun Newton has released a statement to the Spalding Guardian in response to the BBC investigation.
Here it is in full:
"As with most investigative journalism people will realise that the tapes have been drastically edited to produce the end result sought.
"When meeting the bogus landlord he asked if we would advertise his property for let, intimating he did not want to let to foreign people as he didn't want them in his house.
"I explained that we would not do that under the Race Relations Act and we would not discriminate against anybody which was shown in the clip.
"He was acting strangely while I was in the property and made me feel very uncomfortable, twice saying he had to nip to the loo to check something.
"I found him very intimidating, moving close to me and continually asking me to guarantee certain things about finding the sort of tenant he was looking for and I was anxious to leave asap.
"People who know me will have noticed on the TV clip that I was not my usual assertive self, and that I was being coerced and brainwashed into making statements using words fed by the landlord.
"When I got back to my office I mentioned to colleagues that he was inciting me to make comments I don't usually make just to get out of the property.
"In fact, when he phoned back on May 8, 2009, I told him I didn't think we wanted to act for him.
"He phoned back and we eventually agreed to offer the property the third week in June.
"On June 26, by email, he said we could not make appointments until Friday, July 3, starting at 2.30pm, as his wife was ill in bed that week.
"Accordingly we removed the brochure from our 'properties to let' board and told all applicants, not just the undercover Polish BBC reporter who called on July 2, that the property was not available by using the term 'the property has gone' or it's 'under application' because our written instruction was not to take appointments until July 3 after 2.30pm.
"It was only after the bogus landlord spoke with us on July 2 midday to say he would let us have a key for viewing at the weekend that he said we could re-start offering the property.
"Therefore I made appointments for people that afternoon to view the property.
"The telephone number left by the undercover Polish BBC reporter was a bogus telephone number so I was not able to tell him we could then make appointments.
"I unfortunately did not pass the message on to my colleague Ms Austen so she did not make appointments for people to view before 2.30pm on July 3.
"That is why the two undercover reporters, and others, were unable to make appointments during the mornings of July 2 and 3.
"It is not our practice to deny access to anybody, whatever their nationality, to any property we sell or let.
"Indeed one of my family properties has been let to a Polish family for several years.
"In fact over a third of the 188 properties currently let are let to non-British nationals and we act for several non-British landlords.
"We have an excellent relationship with all and know several would be pleased and prepared to confirm this.
"Several probably started renting small properties from us ten to 12 years ago and as their families have grown they have moved into larger properties we have found them."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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