Vajinder Kaur of Thorpe Park Road, Peterborough, was found guilty at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (16 June 2011) for having control or managing a HMO without a licence when one was required under the Housing Act 2004.
Kaur was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay the council’s full costs of £7,216.91, plus a £15 victim surcharge.
The property in Cromwell Road was taken over by the city council in November 2010 because of its appalling condition and lack of management. During their investigations council officers found a catalogue of serious hazards including:
- The risk of explosion from an uncapped gas pipe
- The electric meter was bypassed, leaving scorch marks from live cables and posing a serious fire risk
- Blocked drainage pipes causing stagnant water to pool in rear yard which was rubbish strewn and overgrown
- There were no fire detectors, fire doors or fire fighting equipment
- The front and rear doors were insecure allowing access by strangers who used the property to take drugs
- The boiler was inoperable leaving tenants with no heating or hot water
- The stairs and banisters were damaged and filthy
- There was refuse strewn throughout the property
- There were no working lights in the kitchen
Despite several reminders and visits over many months from council officers, Kaur failed to apply for a licence or take any action to remedy the extremely poor living conditions in the house.
Kaur told the court that her husband, Vikram Singh, was responsible for letting the property and that she had passed all the council’s letters and notices to him to deal with, and did not know what was going on. The court deemed that merely ‘closing her eyes’ to the problem was not a reasonable excuse and did not absolve her from her liabilities as the owner of the property.
Jo Hodges, the city council’s senior neighbourhoods enforcement officer, said: “The level of fine in this case reflects the extremely poor conditions and lack of attention paid to the property and the law by the owner, and her husband who helped her operate it. Kaur had been given many opportunities to deal with the issues, but failed to do so.
“Landlords in the city who flout the law will be prosecuted. Not only do we have a duty to safeguard tenants and neighbourhoods but we also have a responsibility to the good landlords to make sure we take appropriate action to deal with the rogues.
“This property was the subject of the first interim management order made by the council, which meant we had to spend about £25,000 bringing it up to a decent and safe standard. It is, however, only one of many properties identified by officers that remain unlicensed and these will be tackled in the coming months.
“I hope that this case will be a warning to other landlords that we will take strong enforcement action against them if they fail to comply with their legal requirements to licence these properties and keep them in a good state of repair. The message I want to send is this: please do not ignore the council because if you do it could be both expensive and embarrassing.”
Councillor Peter Hiller, the city council’s cabinet member for housing, neighbourhoods and planning, said: “The council has a duty to identify and inspect rented properties within our area and ensure they meet the relevant safety standards and legal criteria according to the way the house is let. This is for the protection of the tenants and the surrounding community.
“We will investigate every incident that is reported to us and where it is found that a landlord or agent isn’t providing accommodation that meets legal and safety requirements, we will take action.”
The city council has designated the Millfield and New England areas of Peterborough as an additional licensing area, requiring landlords to licence properties as houses in multiple occupation if they have three or more occupants representing two or more households. Failure to licence a property as an HMO is an offence under the Housing Act 2004 with a maximum fine of £20,000.
Landlords who require more information should contact the city council’s private rented housing enforcement team on (01733) 747474 or visit: www.peterborough.gov.uk/housing/houses_in_multiple_occupation.aspx.
