A letting agent has been accused of not returning the deposits of more than 100 tenants.

Tony Singh, whose company Morgan, Payne & Knightly has multiple branches in Birmingham, Telford and Wolverhampton, also faces accusations from landlords, who say he did not pass rent on to them.

Unpaid sums have in a handful of cases seen county court judgments made against both the company and Singh - who goes by Tony, but whose full name is Amun Singh Judge. Each has also been reported to Trading Standards.

A BBC investigation can now shine more light on the scale of money owed, uncovering evidence that tenants and landlords are between them out of pocket by hundreds of thousands of pounds. Some fear they will never see their money.

The BBC has tried to contact Singh by email, phone and social media and has also hand delivered letters to his home and workplace.

He has not replied.

Raman Kaur and her family rented a house through Morgan, Payne & Knightly (MPK) until September 2025 when they bought their own home.

They are still waiting for their £900 deposit to be returned and have discovered the money was not put in a registered deposit scheme.

"It's not right, he shouldn't be doing that with our money," she said. "That's our sweat, our hard work.

"It's very stressful having a young family and with the financial crisis that we're all going through.

"We've saved that money, we've budgeted and we've had to tell the kids they can't have things.

"I think he should be ashamed of what he's done. It's not his money, he didn't earn it."

Kaur says the family visited the West Bromwich branch of MPK to resolve the matter, but found it had closed, leaving them to try phoning Singh and his staff every day.

The home the family rented is owned by an individual who did not want to be named in this article. We will refer to him as Vikram.

"I'm owed £700 and MPK are falsely saying they're registered in a deposit protection scheme, but they're not," he said.

"I've spent months trying to get hold of Tony Singh but the offices have shut down, and nobody answers the phone or emails.

"It feels like nobody can help us, so we contacted the BBC."

Our investigation has since found that individual sums that are owed range from £700 to £16,000.

Vikram reported his experience to Trading Standards.

Sandwell Council, which covers West Bromwich, said both Singh and MPK were no longer operating in the borough.

Singh and MPK continue, however, to operate elsewhere in the West Midlands, the BBC can confirm.

Mike Heighway owns four houses in Telford.

"From July 2024, there were months when I didn't receive any rent through Morgan, Payne & Knightly, so I asked the tenants to pay us directly," he said.

"I'm owed around £16,000 and, despite numerous attempts, I haven't been able to speak to Tony Singh.

"I've been trying to contact him for two years now, and I've instructed a debt collection agency."

He added: "I think the chance of me receiving any of that money is negligible.

"I've been in the financial industry for many years and my advice is beware of going to any letting agency who's not regulated."

There is no mandatory regulation of letting and managing agents in England. While many belong to trade associations, it is not a legal requirement.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate licensing requirements.

However, under UK law, agents are required to put deposits from tenants in regulated schemes.

Echoing the complaint of Kaur, one local authority confirmed to the BBC it had found instances where MPK had not done so.

The observation was made by Wolverhampton Trading Standards, but a spokesperson said no action had been taken as properties advertised for rent by MPK were in neighbouring council areas.

Telford & Wrekin Council said it had seen no evidence of offences committed under Trading Standards legislation, and advised people with a complaint about a rogue landlord to report it to them.

Birmingham City Council said it would not comment.

The BBC has spoken to six people who previously worked at three branches of MPK.

They say they never saw Singh place tenants' deposits in a regulated scheme.

"There are hundreds of tenants who'll never see their deposits again," said one former worker who asked not to be named.

Another worker wishing to stay anonymous, who we will refer to as Tilly, said: "I think it was more rare to see him doing things by the book or to see a deposit certificate or correct rent being paid to a landlord."

The BBC is aware of seven staff walking out in protest over how Singh operated, with three leaving after one landlord discovered his house was being let to tenants who were using it as a cannabis farm.

"A next door neighbour called up and said that a house in Oldbury had been used for drugs," Tilly said.

"It was awful. The ceilings were cut through, the walls had damage to them, it needed whole new flooring, and it was quite obvious that the whole house needed re-decorating.

"You could see that they'd slept in one room and used the rest of the rooms for growing drugs."

West Midlands Police confirmed a cannabis farm had been found at the property, but the people living there had disappeared.

The owner of the house - who did not want to be named and who we will refer to as Dave - told the BBC he had become suspicious about MPK when his rent payments stopped coming through.

"I kept trying to get hold of Tony, but he wouldn't answer any calls or emails, so I went round to the house," he said.

"I couldn't believe the state of it, it was devastating."

Dave later learned the energy company npower had forced entry to remove the electricity meters after thousands of pounds of bills went unpaid.

"It's cost me £32,000 to repair the damage done, and I'm owed another £12,000 in rent," he said.

"Tony also hadn't done the gas and electrical checks; there were no certificates.

"If anybody had been hurt, or worse, then I wouldn't have been insured, and I could have gone to jail. Thank God nothing happened."

His sister also used MPK to rent out a property. Payments to her stopped, with Singh telling her the rent was not being paid.

"We visited the tenants who showed us proof that they'd made all the payments," Dave said.

"My sister is owed rent, and the tenants haven't been given their £500 deposit back.

"We've all tried contacting Tony, but he won't speak to us."

The BBC has asked Singh for his response to all the allegations, and has also asked what checks MPK carried out on the tenants who used the property as a cannabis farm.

He did not respond to the requests for comment.

The BBC has seen evidence that Singh is still trading as Morgan, Payne and Knightly, is still receiving money from tenants, and is still being contacted by numerous landlords chasing their payments.

The BBC has also seen eight county court judgements made against him and the company for not returning tenants' deposits, not paying rent to landlords and not paying staff, with the former employees saying they are owed tens of thousands of pounds in unpaid wages, pension, sickness and maternity pay.

In 2025, the former West Bromwich branch of MPK was fined £2,150 by the government for failing to comply with the UK's money laundering regulations.

In April 2026, a county court found MPK had unfairly dismissed a member of staff at a Sandwell branch, had not paid her the minimum wage and had deducted £1,726 for tax and national insurance which she had not received.

For those whose complaints have not been resolved, though, there is frustration.

"He continues to get away with it," Tilly said. "Why is nobody listening to us?"

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