Landlord fined £160,000 after fatal house blaze

A London landlord has been fined £160,000 and ordered to pay £40,000 prosecution costs for breaking fire safety laws following a fatal fire in a  Hounslow property. Surinder Rana was found guilty of four offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and was sentenced on 1 May at Kingston Crown Court.
 
The fire occurred shortly after 5am on 8 August 2011 at 41 Cromwell Road, which was a house in multiple occupation (HMO) containing 10 people. Four fire engines and 20 firefighters were called to tackle the blaze which affected the ground floor, first floor and loft.

A number of people managed to escape the first floor of the property but one of the residents – Mr Sukhi Singh - was found in the heavily smoke logged kitchen on the ground floor. He was taken to hospital where he died shortly afterwards. London Fire Brigade fire safety inspectors visited the house the same day and found a number of fire safety breaches including:
 
• that it wasn’t possible for people to evacuate the premises quickly and safely
• no fire detectors or smoke alarms
• no firefighting equipment
• that no proper fire risk assessment was in place for the property

Following the inspection of the property and the neighbouring house, also owned by Rana and used as an HMO, the brigade issued a prohibition notice, preventing their use as residential accommodation until  they had been fitted with suitable fire separation, adequate fire detection and emergency lighting.

Speaking after the sentencing London Fire Brigade’s assistant commissioner for fire safety Neil Orbell said: “Landlords have a responsibility to keep their tenants safe from fire and if they are ignoring those responsibilities and putting the people living in their properties at risk we will not hesitate to prosecute.

“The sentence handed down to Mrs Rana is a stark reminder to landlords that the court’s take fire safety as seriously as we do and that the penalties for ignoring it are severe.”
 http://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2015/5/landlord-fined-%C2160-000-after-fatal-house-blaze

3 bed mid terrace yields 6.5% in Northam, Southampton

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This 3 bed  mid terrace unit has just come on the market at £165k. It has been newly refurbished with new kitchen, upstairs bathroom and complete redecoration.  The accommodation comprises of two/three double bedrooms, two/three reception rooms, newly fitted kitchen and first floor bathroom. The property is currently rented at £900pcm and will yield  6.5%. The investment will appeal to those chasing yield more than capital growth. We have recently let a 2 bed unit around the corner and the tenants love the property and location. Tenant demand will be good as the property is on the edge of the city ( it’s a short distance to St Marys Stadium ) and has good transportation links

House price dip prompts "market panic" claim

House prices dipped by 0.8 per cent in March according to the Land Registry - a marked contrast to figures produced by Nationwide earlier this week. 

The data shows an annual price increase of 5.3 per cent taking the average property value in England and Wales to £178,007 compared with the peak of £181,049 in November 2007.

Almost inevitably London homes have seen the biggest increase in average value over the last 12 months - up 11.3 per cent - while perhaps equally predictably the north east of England saw the only annual price fall with a decrease of 2.9 per cent.

The north east also saw the largest monthly price decrease with a fall of four per cent.

Recent figures from estate agents showing transaction volumes falling sharply have been confirmed by the registry, which says the number of completed house sales in England and Wales dropped 18 per cent in March to 53,168. 

The number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1m dropped by 19 per cent to 851, from 1,049 a year earlier. This prompted a Savills buying agent - Guy Meacock of Savills’ Prime Purchase off-shoot - to describe there being “panic in the housing market” as a result of recent stamp duty changes and a possible mansion tax. 

The Land Registry data shows that the annual rate at which prices are growing also slowed for the seventh consecutive month to stand at 5.3 per cent, the lowest level since February last year.

http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/2325-house-price-dip-prompts-market-panic-claim