A London council has prosecuted landlord Syed Shah, owner of an HMO, for a string of breaches that posed significant risks to the health and safety of tenants.
He was ordered to pay a total of £26,535.41 for his offences.
The case arose from concerns raised by two tenants who contacted Watford council last summer.
They reported ongoing building works at the property, including the removal of bedroom walls, and the unsafe storage of tools and building materials in escape routes.
Council officers found multiple breaches that put the safety of the tenants at risk, particularly in the event of a fire. These included compromised fire detection systems and escape routes, non-functioning fire doors, blocked escape routes, and missing smoke detectors and fire blankets.
The council prohibited the use of two bedrooms on the top floor for sleeping until they were made safe. Additionally, the landlord was required to undertake emergency works to install guarding on the first-floor landing and in the kitchen to ensure tenant safety in the event of a fire.
It was also discovered that Shah had added a third storey to the property without the appropriate licensing. This expansion resulted in nine tenants residing in a three-storey property, exceeding the occupancy permitted by the existing HMO licence.
Shah appeared before St Albans Magistrates Court, where he pleaded guilty to all 13 offences.
He was sentenced to pay a fine of £12,000, with additional court surcharges and legal costs, bringing the total amount to £26,535.41. The court ordered Shah to make monthly payments of £500 towards the penalty.
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Greedy Pig, He isn't punished harshly enough. This is the kind of person we don't need in society.
Well that’s a bit harsh I never know a landlord to remove his fire alarms it costs plenty to have them installed and annual Certificates, why would he remove fire blankets ?. Unsafe storage tools if you are doing work you can’t remove everything at night or leave them in their bedrooms so what are you supposed to do half the time you can’t even park near the place.
Leaving things in common areas don’t necessarily mean it’s blocked often far more blocked with Tenants Pushchairs & Bicycles.
He had added a third Storey apparently with Planning Permission as this was not mentioned extending the HMO Licence is a near impossible procedure probably needing a New Application taking 18 months if you are lucky.
He at least he spent money on the Building Works, paid VAT Presumably and gave employment to get the work done, so less people under umbrella’s, more fool he was should have keep his money and do nothing he wouldn’t be getting into trouble and no one bothered about him..
The tenants complained to the council because he was doing building work while he had tenants living there. I would have avoided this problem by getting rid of the tenants and doing the works while it is empty. I have given S21 notice to all the tenants in one house, I am planning the works to start as soon as they leave in 2 months. Tenants are fickle, they will complain about everything. His greed was trying to keep the rent coming in while doing the work. I used to do IT projects all over Europe and US, in between projects, I used to do development work on the properties I owned. So while I was away in foreign countries doing my job, I would do all the planing, employing architects to builders and providing S21 notices. Then I will take time out from my IT work and get stuck in sourcing materials and getting the work done to the standard I want. Then I would rent the property out. With regards to HMO licensing application, once you have made the application, you can rent.
These people are playing a certain game, they do the work, then apply for retrospective planning in order to get more than what they will otherwise get under normal planning.
A guy bought an old supermarket building near my house, he had planning to convert it into bedsits-he built an extra story on top of what was approved and rented it all to council tenants.
The council took him to court and he had to modify the additional story to have a recess. Still, he has an additional storey by doing it this way.
I will point out that it is possible to achieve the same results by employing the right planners extra. However some people just do it this way, so, if they are fined, it is part of their building costs.
Regarding when you have made a HMO Application you can Rent out ? in Ealing yes, Harrow Says No and no Agent will touch it either if a License is Required.
The other issue is when Section 21 is gone nothing to serve to get it Vacant to do the Work or for any other reason.
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