Buy to let investor has £20,000 bill after failing to apply for council licence

A buy to let investor has been landed with a fine and costs of over £20,000 because he failed to apply for a licence from his local council. 

Southwark’s Labour council prosecuted Omo Ayoade from Croydon for his failure to apply for the licence and respond to communications concerning two properties in Camberwell. 

The council introduced landlord licensing for all Southwark landlords in January 2016, saying it was a measure to “crack down on rogue landlords who endanger and take advantage of vulnerable people.”

The authority says it had already dealt with various issues at Ayoade’s property in the past and had prosecuted him for failing to comply with an improvement notice in 2013. 

More recently, in November 2017, bedbugs were reported to the council by an occupant of one of his flats, and further to this, in July 2018, the council learned that a leak had caused the ceiling to collapse in one of his lower flats. 

The council visited the premise and served an abatement notice on Ayoade, ordering him to fix the ceiling.

Now additionally he has been fined for failing to obtain a licence.

A spokeswoman for Southwark council says: “This is a great result, and I hope that it will encourage any landlords in Southwark who still don’t have one of our licenses, to apply immediately.”