Landlords who have ignored house in multiple occupation (HMO) licensing laws have paid out thousands of pounds in fines during recent weeks.
In most cases, the landlords have had time to address licensing and safety issues, but failed to act.
Here are some of the recent cases from before the courts across the UK:
Coventry – Junie Liu admitted six HMO licensing charges to Nuneaton magistrates, mainly relating to fire safety. Liu, 28, was fined £3,350 and ordered to pay £1,168 costs.
Bristol – Housing officers found 11 people living in an HMO licensed for only five tenants. Landlord Gurnam Singh, 53, pleaded guilty to breaching his HMO licence before Bristol Magistrates Court.
Singh was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £2,026 costs.
The court heard Singh sublet the property to a manager who took in the extra tenants without his permission. The property is no longer rented out.
Manchester – Opera singing landlord Charles Andrew Wenner hit a low note with Manchester magistrates when they heard he had failed to renew an expired HMO licence for his home, where he lived with eight tenants.
Wenner, 62, was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £1,945 costs after being found guilty of breaking HMO licensing rules. He had pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing and did not attend court for the trial.
Edinburgh – Landlord Jonathan Hartwell, 39, admitted setting up secret cameras to film tenants in the bedroom and bathroom of a flat he rented out in the city.
Sheriff Gordon Liddle described Hartwell’s actions as: “nasty voyeurism” and deferred sentencing for a background report.
Margate – Property company Goldlane Developments Ltd pleaded guilty at Canterbury Magistrates Court to ignoring improvement notices ordering repairs to the roof of a flat that was letting in damp.
Other charges concerned fire safety at the property.
The company was fined £3,000 with £240 costs.
The work has now been carried out.
Worthing – Landlord Frank Scanlon was ordered to pay more than £7,000 in fines and costs for failing to licence an HMO by Worthing magistrates.
