A Leeds landlord has been fined a paltry £750 for letting flats with no heating, no hot water, toilets that didn't flush, inadequate security, and a lack of fire safety precautions.
Kosvka Mijakovac of Chapeltown, was fined £750 and ordered to pay costs of £2,749 plus a £25 victim surcharge having pleaded guilty at Leeds Magistrates Court earlier this month under Section 43 of the Housing Act 2004.
The council served Emergency Prohibition Orders on Mijakovac's three flats at Roundhay Grove, Harehills in December 2013.
Previous inspections showed that the flats were in a dangerous condition and in such a bad state of repair, officers were concerned that tenants would be at risk of injury or even death.
Existing tenants found alternative accommodation but despite being legally obliged to fix the flats before letting them again, Mijakovac allowed three families with young children to move in in January 2014 without any repairs being made.
Despite warnings that the flats should not be occupied due to the risks to the health and safety of the occupants, tenants continued to live at the flats until June 2014.
Mijakovac was prosecuted for three offences of allowing re-occupation of a property subject to an Emergency Prohibition Order.
Councillor Peter Gruen, executive member for neighbourhoods, planning and personnel said: This is probably one of the worst cases of deliberate neglect that I have seen.
Our officers are on hand to offer their wealth of experience to keep tenants safe and landlords on the right side of the law. The majority of landlords are more than happy to work with us to ensure this is the case.
However, when standards fall this far below the expected and required level, we will not stand by while people put profit ahead of safety, common sense and the law.
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Comments
Ridiculous! How do they expect things to change if the punishment doesn't fit the crime He put his tenants at risk in extremely sub-standard accommodation that lacked even the most basic facilities. No heating Toilets that don't flush And he was allowed to get away with it more than once. More needs to be done to clamp down on these rogue landlords, before all of us are tarred with the same terrible brush!
I don't get this. On LAT we see reports of HUGE fines levied on unscrupulous Landlords such as this clown. I am all in favour of these large fines as the idiots blight the reputation of the industry for all of us.
750 (plus costs) is a ridiculously low penalty.