A landlord who lied about the income from his portfolio of properties has been jailed.

Stratos Efstratiou, 53, of Folkestone Road in Dover, cheating taxpayers out of £139,000 while netting hundreds of thousands of pounds from his rental property business.

A HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigation uncovered his string of lies starting from when he bought derelict pub The Three Gardeners in Strood, Rochester in 2008.

He went on to sell the property in 2012 for £300,000 but pocketed the £50,000 VAT due on the sale.

He also lied about income from renting 26 residential premises to evade paying £58,929 in Income Tax between 2010 and 2015, and fraudulently claimed more than £30,000 in Tax Credits over the same period.

HMRC investigators who searched Efstratiou’s home discovered fake invoices for non-existent repairs and maintenance work on the rental properties.

Richard Mayer, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Efstratiou has shown a complete disregard for the law, stealing a huge amount of money while raking in profits from his properties.

'The money here is equivalent to the wages of six trainee firefighters for a year.'

“Tax fraud takes money away from vital public services.

"The money here is equivalent to the wages of six trainee firefighters for a year. I urge anyone with information about VAT fraud to contact us online or call our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.”

Efstratiou admitted four counts of fraud at Canterbury Crown Court on June 26, 2019. He was sentenced to two years in jail at the same court yesterday.

HMRC will be seeking to recover the stolen cash through confiscation proceedings.

In 2014 Efstratiou was prosecuted by Shepway District Council for persistently allowing overcrowding in a flat, and for failing to repair a tenant’s gas boiler. He received £9,000 in fines.

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