A council in the north of England has issued its first-ever Civil Penalty Notice on a landlord - and it involved a £20,000 fine.
The landlord, from St Helens, failed to carry out required improvements to a property she was letting to a family in Burtonwood.
The improvements, which fall under the Housing Act 2004, required repairs to the property to rectify a number of health and safety issues, including dangerous electrics and damp.
The same landlord in St Helens also failed to comply with a smoke alarm notice.
As a result the council attended the property to fit the alarms and has issued the landlord with a fixed penalty fine of £1,000.
Warrington council’s executive board member for public health and wellbeing, Maureen McLaughlin, says: “We are sending out a clear message to bad landlords that failing to ensure your properties are safe and healthy for your tenants will not be tolerated. We want to protect all of Warrington’s tenants from poor housing conditions, and we are working closely with landlords to achieve this.
“While the vast majority of them want to work with us, we will continue to use all the powers available to us to take action against those who fail to co-operate.”
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Seems the landlord had ample opportunity to address the defects with a fine of £1k but didn't resulting in what would seem a huge jump. It will be interesting to know the First Tier Tribunals decision on any appeal.
Also, the landlords side of the story.
Dangerous electrics and damp, - could be an overloaded plug socket and drying clothes inside without ventilation. Devil is in the detail, as they say.
I agree that non-compliance shouldn't be tolerated, but I also believe in justice and a £20,000 fine just doesn't make sense for a crime of this nature. Compare that to a fine for speeding for example, both of which have similar risks to human life.
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