Medway landlord fined £20,000 for damp flat

Two Kent landlords have been fined £20,000 for leaving a flat so severely riddled with damp it posed a risk to tenants’ health.

Property owners Rattan Singh and Balbir Kaur of Henry Street, Chatham, left tenants living in damp conditions and without heating for more than two years.

Another of their flats in the same road, Dale Street, Chatham, was also without heating. Both properties were also lacking vital fire safety alarms.

Medway Council’s private sector housing team first raised informal concerns with the owners in December 2011, and requested improvements be made swiftly.

Despite follow up visits from the council’s “Rogue Landlord Unit”, Singh and Kaur failed to make the necessary improvements and were consequently issued with a formal legal notice in December 2013.

They made no attempt to carry out the work and appeared at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on 6 November where they pleaded guilty to 19 offences including failing to comply with notices under the Housing Act 2004.

They were fined £20,000 and must pay £600 costs as well as a £150 victim surcharge.

The prosecution by the council’s private sector housing team was undertaken following a successful bid for government funding to specifically tackle rogue landlords in Medway. This was the first case for the authority’s Rogue Landlord Unit which is investigating a number of other cases.

Medway Council’s director for regeneration, community and culture Robin Cooper said: “Landlords must remember that the properties they are renting out must be safe and free of risks to the health of their tenants. The council will not accept tenants being placed in danger through the deliberate actions of their landlords or agents.

“We will always try to work with co-operative landlords and support them in running their businesses. This case shows that those who don’t comply will be followed up and if necessary, prosecuted.”