HMO landlords fined for renting out shabby properties
AFS Team·11 January 2013·3 min read
In three separate cases, the landlords were ordered to pay fines and costs of nearly £25,000.
All the cases relate to poor management of shared houses in multiple occupation (HMO).
Imran Hussain Ali, 33, owner of a shared house in Cowley Road, Oxford, must pay £9,266 after admitting to 11 breaches of housing laws. The house was overcrowded with 10 tenants – and he told the council inspectors that he had no idea of how many people lived there.
Inside, cockroaches were spotted roaming the floors; fire safety equipment failed to work and the house was generally dirty.
Rizwan Sultan, was ordered to pay £8,908 after admitting 13 offences HMO offences..
Sultan had no gas or electrical safety certificates, while the house was in poor repair with rotten woodwork, smashed windows and unsafe electrics.
Sultan was convicted in 2008 for similar offences.
Barbur Ali, 29, must pay £5,250 after pleading guilty to 10 housing law breaches at an HMO with 10 tenants. The council has now prosecuted 31 landlords for housing law offences.
Ray Baxter, the HMO licensing officer for the city council, said: “I’m pleased the courts are recognising the work we’re doing.”
Meanwhile, landlords in Accrington, Lancashire, are set to challenge an HMO selective licensing scheme run by Hyndbourn Council in the courts.
The landlords already forced the council to delay implementing the scheme by winning an earlier High Court case – now they are heading to a property tribunal to argue that an £850 fee for the five year licence is too high and other elements of the scheme might not be legally enforceable.
“The council wants selective licensing to cure all the area’s housing problems,” said a spokesman for the landlords.
“One condition to provide an electrical safety installation check certificate costs the landlord and a responsible landlord will know the safety of their property anyway.”
