Landlord Fines: Fire, Safety, and Living Conditions

Eleven terrified tenants were trapped inside a shared house when a fire broke out during the night.

Firefighters tackled the blaze, rescuing the tenants unharmed, although one firefighter was injured when stairs collapsed inside the building.

At Sheffield Crown Court, Judge Robinson handed landlord Zahir Ahmed six months in jail, suspended for 18 months, and 250 hours of community service when he appeared for sentencing after admitting six fire safety offences at an earlier hearing.

Ahmed must also pay prosecution costs of £10,000.

The court heard that the rented home had no fire alarm, emergency lighting and inadequate fire doors.

Sentencing, the judge said:  “Mr Ahmed was wilfully not caring about the safety of individuals. There had been a dreadful fire, which resulted in a firefighter falling through the stairs. It could have been catastrophic and was, in my view, a near-fatal fire.”

Landlord denied the home was HMO

Landlord Ervis Xhaferi kept telling council officers the home he was renting out was not a house in multiple occupation (HMO), only for them to find out he had added a bedroom and was letting the property to six people.

Eventually, complaints prompted the council to inspect the property in Harlow, Essex, revealing that Xhaferi was renting out an unlicensed HMO without fire safety measures.

Xhaferi admitted the offences at Chelmsford Magistrates Court, where he was fined £16,200 with a £2,000 victim surcharge and costs of £5,500.

Tenants living in cold, damp homes

Failing to keep three buy-to-let homes in Burnley in good repair cost the landlord £11,500 in fines at Preston Magistrates Court.

The court was told David Waddington left tenants in poor housing for two years, including dampness and mould, exposed electrical hazards, holes in the ceiling, excessive cold, and fire risk.

He admitted failing to comply with improvement notices and was fined £11,500 with a £2,000 victim surcharge and £450 in costs.

Burnley Council said: “After almost two years’ of investigation and serving legal notices on the landlord, we’ve finally seen some justice for his tenants.

“They were all vulnerable and were forced to live in such poor conditions that you could see the effect it was having on their health and well-being.”

Ignoring council warnings costs HMO couple £13,500

Haringey Council, North London, warned an anonymous landlord couple several times with improvement notices highlighting poor living standards and disrepair in a rented property converted into eight flats.

However, the warnings were ignored, and a £13,500 civil penalty was issued.

The council has recently publicised a get-tough policy against private landlords who fail to maintain their properties.

Warrant issued for no-show landlord

Magistrates issued a warrant for a landlord who failed to appear in court to face a charge of ignoring an enforcement notice.

Later, Nadeem Anwar gave himself up to the police.

He and his management company, All in One Properties Ltd, pleaded guilty to the charge at Snaresbrook Crown Court, East London.

Anwar was fined £400, with £2,000 in costs, and ordered to pay a £2,960 confiscation order.

The property company was fined £2,000 with £2,781 costs.