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A council has prosecuted a private landlord for failing to ensure his three properties were safe to live in for their 11 tenants.

In June last year Oldham council received complaints from residents about three properties in the town, subsequently visited by council environmental health officers.

Two of the properties did not have any fire detection systems and both the electricity and gas supplies had been tampered with - therefore putting tenants' lives at risk.

Flammable materials were left in the path of fire escapes, fire doors were open and had handles missing, plus plug sockets and light switches were loose and faulty. Safety certificates for gas and electrical appliances were also missing.

Working with the local fire and rescue service these two properties were closed immediately by the local authority and seven tenants were rehoused.

The landlord carried out emergency work to the third property allowing it to remain open.

Now Stuart Mather of Manchester has pleaded guilty to 13 breaches of the Management of House in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006. He was fined £1,495 - that is £115 for each offence - with costs of £2,700 being awarded to the council.

Comments

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    Pathetic fines like that are absolutely no deterrent so these rogue operators will not be worried about the consequences of offending.

    There seems to be no consistency because sometimes the fines reported here on LAT are very high (quite right too) and sometimes low.

    • 22 January 2015 07:02 AM
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