Two landlords have been fined £12,000 and £4,000 for failing to safely maintain their properties in another example of councils getting tough on the management of HMOs.
David Lubin of Plasnewydd in Cardiff has pleaded guilty to four offences related to a failure to ensure electrical equipment was inspected and tested, a failure to ensure fire alarms were maintained and failure to ensure that all means of escape from fire were maintained.
He was fined £1,000 for each offence giving a total fine of £4,000. He was also ordered to pay costs of £450 and a victim surcharge of £120.
Shamsdin Ali of Heath in Cardiff was found guilty in his absence of 10 offences relating to effective management of a house in multiple occupation. This related to a failure to maintain fire safety measures, a failure to ensure the property was adequately secure and failure to ensure that the gas and electrical installations were in safe working order.
He was fined £1,200 per offence giving a total fine of £12,000 and was ordered to pay costs of £411 and a victim surcharge of £120. He was given 28 days to pay.
Comments
This is just the sort of thing that happens when lazy landlords are left to maintain their own properties. There should be stricter checks for things like this so tenants don't have to suffer through the ordeal before anything is done.
I agree with Daniel, we have a duty of care to our tenants and there are regulations set for us to abide by for a reason! These are just 2 examples of rogue landlords but there are more out there and they're slowly ruining the reputations of us reputable landlords.
Its people like this that give landlords a bad name! They deserve to have the book thrown at them. When you become a landlord, you have a duty of care towards your tenants, to look after their safety, to properly maintain the place they now call home. Ironically, theyve now been fined more than they would have paid to carry out the checks and repairs in the first place. Not bright.