A BOURNEMOUTH estate agent and his company have been charged with more than 20 offences relating to the sale of seven properties.

Business Illsley and Son Ltd, trading as Meridian Estate Agents, is due to appear before magistrates in Poole in April. Company director Matthew Illsley, 34, has also been charged with a series of offences under the Unfair Trading Regulations.

In total, Illsley and his company, which is based at 297 Charminster Road, face 22 offences.

The business specifically is charged with five counts of trader engaging in a commercial practice which is a misleading action containing false information, three of trader engaging in a commercial practice which is a misleading omission and two of trader engaging in a commercial practice which was aggressive.

The two latter counts allege that threats were made to withhold a buyer's access from a property until a purchasing fee was paid.

Illsley, of Charminster Road, is charged with six counts of trader engage in commercial practice which is a misleading action containing false information, three of trader engage in a commercial practice which is a misleading omission and two of trader engage in a commercial practice which was aggressive.

Prosecutors allege Illsley permitted a Meridian employee who had a prior interest in an address in Nortoft Road, Charminster to value the property themselves and make a false statement regarding the payment of a commission fee.

The charges concern addresses in Ashley Road, Stanley Green Road, Bryant Road, Popes Road and Fortescue Road in Poole, and Myrtle Road and Nortoft Road in Bournemouth.

Some counts allege that buyers of properties were told they had to pay the commission fee because the vendor didn't want to pay it, when in fact Meridian had offered a zero per cent commission deal to the vendor.

Meridian remains open. It has a second branch in Ashley Road, Parkstone.