A mother and her young son were put at risk of suffering carbon monoxide poisoning for seven years at their home, a court has heard.

The woman’s landlord – the lettings company Rent4U Ltd, of Manchester – was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive after an inspection of the gas boiler at her home in Ashton-under-Lyne found it was in a condition classified as ‘immediately dangerous’.

Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard that the firm failed to arrange an annual gas safety check at the terraced house on Marlborough Street between 2007 and 2014.

The court was told that Rent4U had previously been served with two Improvement Notices by HSE in 2013 after failing to arrange annual gas safety checks at two other properties.

Rent4U Ltd, of Christie Fields, Manchester, was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £7,000 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.