Convicted rogue landlord yet to return deposits to renters

Rogue landlord Thomas Flight reportedly still owes money to renters after keeping deposits, fabricating tenant damage and leaving them without heating, The BBC reports.

In January Thomas Flight pleaded guilty to four charges of misleading action, one of misleading omission and one of unfair commercial practice.

The judge ruled that he span a “web of deceit” between June 2019 and January 2021, while he was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 in costs.

Speaking of deceit, Flight gave his address as the yacht “Miss Conduct”, which has sat in Bristol’s harbour since December 2021 and was also the location for protests against the landlord.

Despite the fines at court he surprisingly wasn’t banned from letting out property, despite infuriating multiple tenants across multiple properties.

Many of the complaints came from tenants who stayed at Stonnwall Manor in Frome, Somerset.

Louisa Loughborough booked it out in 2021 for her 40th birthday, but was forced to cancel due to changing lockdown rules.

THOMAS FLIGHT/AIRBNB

When she asked if she could have her money back received a message saying: “It is disgusting you are knowingly twisting matters to suit your narrative then using silly threats to pressure us…our customer service has been excellent faced with constant wrongs, criticism, inaction, repetition of questions, false claims.

“[The owners] have suffered huge losses, and selfish inaction by people like you serves to compound such losses.”

Loughborough said: “Reading it made me feel really anxious.

“They really gaslight you and it made me feel like I was being unreasonable and I did start to think ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have pursued this, perhaps I was being unreasonable?’

“I don’t know how [Thomas Flight] sleeps at night, I think he’s a total scumbag that doesn’t care about people’s feelings and causing people stress.”

In another case, Stonnwall Manor was rented to Chris Grace and his son Sam, who booked it for a party of 19 for four days.

They paid £2,668.50 to stay at the home and also bank transferred a £200 deposit.

However when they arrived the property was bitterly cold.

When the party rang the emergency number to complain they received similarly abusive texts in return.

Sam Grace received an email from ‘Phil Norman’, which turned out to be an alias invented by Thomas Flight, which said: “I see you are playing games with me, just like you did with the support line people.

“We can solve this honestly and amicably or we can play games. Please think carefully before replying.

“You owe me a lot more than the deposit covered and I am in no mood to suffer further costs writing nonsense.

“Please think, I am willing to take you to court.”

The tenants were also told they had trashed the bedroom and their deposit was withheld, despite them not using the bed because a baby was sleeping in there.

Chris Grace complained and sought a reimbursement of £1,645.66 for two nights’ stay and his £200 damage deposit. He won a county court judgement and a Writ of Control for High Court bailiffs to act, but bailiffs couldn’t find Flight to recover the money.

Another tenant who stayed at Stonnwall Manor was Jason Pacey, who in March 2026 had repeated issues with heating but was told the heating was fine after calling the emergency number.

Thomas Flight also ordered the tenant to send an agreement that “neither party can make any claims, legal or otherwise” if he wanted to receive his £200 pet deposit, though Shelter’s legal experts have said this likely isn’t binding.