More big fines have been handed out in recent legal action regarding buy to let investors who have not stuck by local council licensing rules.

In Flintshire, Wales, a landlord who let a disused pub to up to 40 people has been fined over £15,000.

Hayden Rogers was prosecuted by Flintshire council for letting the Old Quay House in Connah’s Quay as an HMO without a licence; a council report claimed it was in “appalling condition.”

Rogers was fined £2,000 after being found guilty in his absence of not having a licence; he was also found guilty of 11 breaches of the regulations and fined £1,000 for each offence. With costs, the total bill came to £15,633.

Meanwhile in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, a landlord has been hit with a £16,000 fixed penalty notice fine for running an unlicensed HMO.

The council has not named the individual but it says the penalty signals the start of a tougher approach to managing private sector landlords, ahead of the mandatory licensing of HMOs coming in on October 1. 

National statistics show the likelihood of a fire occurring in a HMO is three times more than in a single family dwelling, the council says.