Landlords prosecuted over HMO failings hit with huge bills

A landlord has been hit with a bill of £24,250 after pleading guilty to fire safety offences in an unlicensed HMO.

Kevin Taylor was fined a total of £16,750 and ordered to pay £7,500 court costs after admitting seven offences at Watford Magistrates’ Court.

He was fined £10,000 for failing to apply for a HMO licence for the property in, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and a further £6750 for failing to maintain fire escapes, not ensuring the fire detection system met the required standard, not providing the council with certain relevant documents and for failing to provide a gas safety certificate.

He will now also be barred from holding an HMO licence.

The case was Welwyn Borough Council’s third successful prosecution of a landlord or letting agent within the last six months.

Cllr Roger Trigg, executive member for housing and community, said: “I am pleased at the outcome of this case. Along with the two other recent successful prosecutions, this demonstrates that the council takes the safety of private tenants very seriously.”

In a separate case, in Reading, Berkshire, landlord Ravinder Singh Takhar was prosecuted for HMO offences,

Ravinder Singh Takhar, who was once 248th on The Times Asian Rich List, admitted six charges relating to a property converted into four flats.

Joanna Morissey, for Reading Borough Council, told magistrates that environmental health officers last year found a carpet in the communal hall and stairway filthy and ingrained with dirt while a fire extinguisher had not been tested since November 2006.

The rear garden was grossly overgrown and had rubbish in it. A gap in metal railings at the front of the house was wide enough for a child to fall through and down to the basement.

The court heard Takhar has been in the property business for 30 years and was worth £6.5m, with interests in three hotels, three care homes and five other privately let properties in Berkshire and the West Midlands.

However, Michael Mullin, defending, said Takhar was involved in litigation concerning a £6m loan to a company he jointly owned, and was now living off dividends of around £30,000 a year.

Mullin told the court that tenants kept pets in the property, wheeled bicycles up and down the stairs and also connected appliances to light fittings in communal areas to avoid paying bills.

Chair of the bench Araba McMillan ordered Takhar to pay fines of between £1,000 and £4,000 for each of the seven charges, plus £4,982 costs and a victim surcharge of £120. Takhar told the court he was unable to pay the full amount that day.