A landlord who left his tenant
living in a damp and dangerous house, has been fined £4,000 for failing
to carry out the improvements.
Liam Kelly, of County Kildare,
Ireland, was convicted at Manchester City Magistrates' Court in his
absence of failing to comply with a housing improvement notice issued by
Salford city council. He was also ordered to pay £1,060.54 in costs and
a victim surcharge of £120.
Magistrates were told that Salford
council housing officers visited the property in Walkden in February
last year, following a complaint from the tenant.
Officers inspected the whole house
and found there was no smoke detector fitted to the ground floor and the
back door was stiff and needed force to open and close it. The bedroom
windows could not be opened at the bottom, meaning anyone in the house
could not use them to escape a fire.
There was also a one metre high
damp patch in the middle of the living room wall and a leak from the
bathroom had caused a hole, cracks and bulging in the kitchen ceiling.
In March, officers wrote to the
landlord and the managing agent, Reeds Rains, detailing the hazards and
the work needed. Both were invited to reply within 14 days but no
response was received so the council issued an improvement notice
requiring the work to be completed within the next three months.
An inspection in June showed no one
of the work had been carried out. Kelly was invited to either attend an
interview in Salford to explain why it had not been done, or send in a
written defence but failed to respond.
http://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/news_features/%C2%A34-000-fine-and-%C2%A31-000-costs-for-absentee-rogue-landlord
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