A managing agent has been convicted by a local council for failing to properly license his property.

Leon Hill, of Leighton Buzzard, pleaded guilty at Luton Magistrates Court.

He is the director of Squares Letting Agent, and he failed to licence a HMO in the town, despite a number of requests from council officers.

Hill received a fine of £866 and has had to pay council costs of £1,102 and a victim surcharge of £86 resulting in total fine of £2,054.

Councillor Carole Hegley – the authority’s executive member for Adults, Social Care, Housing Operations and Customer Services – says: “We know that most private rented sector landlords provide decent and well managed accommodation, but there are a small number of rogue landlords and property agents who knowingly flout their legal obligations and rent out accommodation which is substandard – often to vulnerable tenants. This is unacceptable.”

She adds: “We want people to understand that landlords of HMOs who fail to apply for a licence will be committing an offence which may result in a prosecution, criminal conviction, their name being added to the national Rogue Landlord Database and a large fine.”