Landlord named by Panorama hauled before court

A landlord who was featured on Panorama has appeared before court after claiming thousands of pounds in a benefit scam. He was sentenced to community service.

Last year, Panorama reporter John Sweeney said that Joshua Danski “could well be Britain’s worst slum landlord”.

Danski, who ran Dreamport Properties, pretended housing benefit tenants were still in the properties after they moved out, and continued to claim the cash.

But he was caught when police launched an investigation into Dreamport Properties.

Danski, 32, admitted conspiracy to defraud between 2007 and 2009 when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

The court heard how Danski, who once owned more than 200 properties, mainly let to low income tenants on housing benefit.

If they fell into rent arrears, Danski was entitled to apply for the benefit to be paid directly to him.

But in three cases, the father-of-four carried on claiming benefit after the tenants moved.

He claimed a total of £5,497 from Newcastle City Council and attempted to make a false claim for a fourth house.

The court heard a tenant had moved into the property, but stayed only for three days because it had no electricity, water or gas.

The council then received a fax purporting to be from the tenant saying he had changed his mind and still lived there. They then received a request for benefit from Dreamport Properties.

Defending, Jonathon Goldberg QC said Danski had not actively lied to the council to claim the benefit, but neglected to tell them the tenants had moved out.

Mr Goldberg said: “His business is now in administration. The mortgages for the properties were with the Co-operative Bank. At one stage he was borrowing over £1m. When he was arrested he got a lot of bad publicity. The bank came to hear of this and they have a policy of ethical lending. They called in his mortgages in December 2010, and that was the end of the business.”

Judge Michael Cartlidge sentenced Danski to 240 hours of unpaid work. He also scheduled a Proceeds of Crime Hearing to see if cash can be reclaimed.

Last year, a closure order was placed on eight of Danski’s flats in Back Street, Winlaton, Gateshead, after police and council investigations revealed tenants were living in slum conditions.

Peter Thompson of Gateshead Council said at the time: “This is one of the worst cases we have seen. We have rarely seen such poor property management and we find it almost unbelievable a landlord can allow his property to deteriorate into such an unsafe condition.”

The Panorama programme showed a 19-year-old tenant of Danski's living in what it described as a 21st century slum for which he paid £400 a month in housing benefit.