Update: Photos added to Flickr
Reading Borough Council has reaffirmed its commitment to raising the standards of rental properties in town after a rogue letting agent was fined over £20,000.
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Jarvis Properties, who managed 6 Prospect Street, Reading on behalf Mr. Abdul Sheikh, the landlord, were fined over £20,000 for failing to properly manage the HMO, comply with health and safety conditions on their HMO Licence; and failing to provide information on 9 July 2012.
The three storey property was issued with a HMO Licence, by Reading Borough Council, on 17 July 2009, limiting the number of occupants to 7. Following a complaint from one of the residents regarding poor conditions and disrepair in May 2011, Reading Borough Council carried out an investigation.
The property was found to be overcrowded, with 11 people found to be living at the property instead of the permitted 7. The fire alarm system was not working, and other fire safety provisions such as fire doors, emergency lights were not being maintained. Fire safety notices were incorrectly positioned and did not direct occupiers to exit via a safe route. An internal shower room extractor fan was not working and electrical wires were exposed. The investigation also found that the shower and the toilet in the top floor shower room blocked up due to a failed macerator unit resulting in foul water filling up both the shower tray and toilet and leaking through to the ceiling below and landing on the banister to the communal stairs/hallway below.
The landlord of the property, Mr Sheikh, was fined £500 and has been ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £15, as well as legal costs of £200 – a total of £715 – after pleading guilty to failing to provide requested information.
The District Judge Matthews, stated that she considered the offences to be serious, and that when the Defendant became aware of the failures they failed to do anything about it for some considerable time. Judge Matthews also said the tenants were paying rent, and deserved to have better living accommodation and were entitled to working sanitary facilities.
Reading Borough Council’s Assistant Lead Councillor for Neighbourhood and Housing, Richard Davies, said:
“This is a fantastic result for the Council’s Housing and Environmental Protection team – and more importantly, this is a great result for tenants across the borough. Raising the standards of housing across all tenures is a top priority for the Council including rental properties in the private sector and this case should act as a deterrent to a minority of irresponsible landlords, as well as letting agents.”
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