Chris Berrington, director of Student Housing Northamptonshire Ltd, was found guilty in his absence of running five shared houses to students – but court officials overlooked a not guilty plea sent by post and forgot to pass the details on to magistrates.
Instead, the letter was sent to Northampton Crown Court.
As he had sent the letter, Berrington, 29, was not in court on the day of the hearing.
Now, magistrates have agreed to reopen the case.
They had heard Berrington had repeatedly ignored council demands to licence the shared houses let to students.
The case is listed for later this month.
Mum flooded out of buy to let Landlord Ghulam Sorwar will pick up the tab for council workmen repairing a waste water pipe that regularly floods a buy to let flat rented by a mum and her young daughter.
Colchester Council reckons the repairs will cost about £8,000 – and that’s on top of a £400 penalty Sorwar has paid for ignoring improvement notices and £1,970 in fines and costs imposed by magistrates for ignoring the council’s order to make the repairs.
Magistrates were told the council repeatedly telephoned and wrote to Sorwar, of Ilford, Essex, to try to persuade him to carry out the repairs.
The flat was regularly flooded with grey waste water that has damaged flooring, skirting boards, wooden walls and plaster.
Tina Bourne, the councillor responsible for housing, said: “Colchester Council will not tolerate this unacceptable negligence from private sector landlords.
“If landlords fail to take action when they are in violation of the Housing Act, the council is prepared to take action and prosecute.
“If tenants have repeatedly tried to get issues repaired by their landlords or letting agents with no success, I would encourage them to seek help.”
