A landlord has been fined £1,000 after leaving his tenant without any hot water.

Reading council received a report of a fault with the supply of hot water in a property in the Caversham area on December 10 last year.

A council officer visited two days later and found the gas water heater had been disconnected due to a serious safety fault. The property owner, Peter Bedlow, was told he needed to restore the hot water supply but he failed to do so and five days later the council served him with an abatement notice under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Bedlow failed to act within the 21 days allowed and the council then arranged for the necessary repairs to be carried out.

The council has now prosecuted Bedlow, who has been convicted of failing to comply with an abatement notice and fined £1,000.

He has also been ordered to pay compensation of £1,367.85 to Reading council, plus costs of £978.92.

“It’s appalling this tenant was forced to live without any hot water. The landlord’s failure to act in this case ended up costing him a total of nearly £3,347 which should send out a strong message” says a council spokesman.