x
By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies to enhance your experience.

Yet another pair of rogue landlords have been fined - this time a total of £20,000 after being found guilty of risking their tenants' health.

Rattan Singh and Balbir Kaur, friom Chatham, were told they kept people in poor and damp conditions for three years in two properties in the town.

Medway Council's housing team for the private sector first raised informal concerns with the owners in December 2011, and requested improvements be made swiftly. Despite follow-up visits from the council, Singh and Kaur failed to make the necessary improvements and so were issued with a formal legal notice in December 2013.

They made no attempt to carry out the work and appeared at Maidstone Magistrates' Court where they admitted 19 offences, including failing to comply with notices under the Housing Act 2004.

As well as the fine the pair must also pay £600 in court costs and a £150 victim surcharge.

This is the first case for the authority's rogue landlord unit, which is currently investigating a number of others. The council was able to prosecute after a successful bid for government funding gave it the resources to tackle rogue landlords in Medway.

Comments

  • icon

    call the local council we often see problems like thses.

    • 14 April 2015 00:48 AM
  • icon

    This is good news, I must say. Some landlords are only after the money and provide nothing worth renting. Some of them even have the nerve to accuse tenants of damages and so on. For the time I've been working as a mover I've seen quite a lot of horrible houses and flats. I guess some people can stand to live in such conditions, while others move out as soon as they can.

    I always talk with my clients if I have a chance. A month ago I did a man and van job for an office worker. He said his landlord has been neglectful of his property. That was the reason for his(the office worker) moving out. I even saw it with my own eyes. Leaking pipes and worn down furniture. I'm surprised the lad even did an end of tenancy cleaning. An end of tenancy make over sounds more like it, to me. :)

    • 05 February 2015 10:39 AM
  • icon

    Wish you luck, Jane Dough :( Keep going and everything will be okey

    • 13 January 2015 09:01 AM
  • icon

    Hi, thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately, if I contact the Health Dept, I have no doubt whatsoever that the landlord will escalate his bullying. I contacted the CAB anonymously and asked the question as below:

    Dear CAB

    I would like to raise an issue with you regarding the composition of a local CAB charity. A local councillor is a director of the local CAB which operates out of the local council offices. He is also a private landlord.

    Surely this is likely to cause a conflict of interest The property he rents is not of the best standard which has led to complaints to the local council yet nothing is done about it.

    Given that many problems suffered by the community involve local councils surely it should be policy NOT to have local councillors involved with CAB


    I received a standard reply that I should contact the CAB involved directly yet to do so, might generate another retaliation from the landlord, given he is Director there. I went to the Housing dept who told me they could write him a letter asking for repairs to be done. I explained the house needed extensive damp proofing, a kitchen (there is only an outhouse) a new bathroom including new toilet which leaks and smells like a public loo, etc etc and that I would rather move than continue being bullied. They closed down my case because I didn't want them to pursue repairs. I explained that my landlord's character harms tenants and as a victim of financial abuse, and suffering from PTSD as a result of chronic and prolonged psychological abuse along with financial abuse that my health is suffering more as every time I'm bullied by my landlord, it triggers me and I suffer from huge anxieties as a result. I received an email a week later from the housing department, they got the start of the tenancy date wrong and there was no mention of my landlord's bullying or why I feel stuck because of his influence in the community.

    • 08 December 2014 19:06 PM
  • icon

    There is a first time for everything!

    • 01 December 2014 10:33 AM
  • icon

    Hang on a minute! Quote:

    "The council was able to prosecute after a successful bid for government funding gave it the resources to tackle rogue landlords in Medway"

    Well considering how much MP's rant about rogue agents shouldn't ALL councils have resources to deal with them. Does the quoted statement imply that without the funding this authority would NOT have been able to pursue this matter I wonder.

    • 29 November 2014 07:34 AM
  • icon

    Jane take stonehenges advice re: Environmental Health Officer and act quickly, i.e. NOW. Keep records of ALL correspondence relating to these matters.

    I am slightly curious as to why you think the CAB is your only avenue to pursue these issues Most local Government web-sites make it clear that you should contact Environmental Health.

    • 29 November 2014 07:31 AM
  • icon

    Call your local Environmental Health Officer who will have to take action if he fails to rectify matters.

    • 28 November 2014 16:12 PM
  • icon

    My landlord is Director for Citizens Advice Bureau in this area and a Local Labour Councillor yet he is a rogue landlord and a bully. I was not given any GAS Certificate when I moved in, I had no form of heating or hot water for over 6 months, heating still not adequate, 2 gas leaks from a cooker that was condemned by british gas before I moved in, finally got it disconnected only the landlord's mate did not cap it off, gas leak in bedroom (on pipe work) which explains why I felt so unwell, leaking toilet, inadequate water pressure/flow meaning it takes time and a lot of gas used, just to get a bath in a bathroom not fit for purpose and which stinks of urine as no floor covering, house is damp, no kitchen just an out-house, front window in lounge has no safety catch which means intruders can easily come in and the window opens from the bottom, no lock to font door for over 4 months, washers on out-house taps for washing up need replacing and I have water constantly flowing out, leak in sky-light in loft, the list is endless yet every time I complain, the landlord screeches and refuses to accept responsibility. I feel stuck and helpless and unable to approach the CAB given that he is a Director there.

    • 28 November 2014 10:31 AM
MovePal MovePal MovePal