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Written by Emma Lunn

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has been forced to release the name of every property firm convicted of housing offences in England and Wales following a ruling by the Information Commissioner. 
 
Justice officials were ordered to disclose the data after the Commissioner, who arbitrates in freedom of information disputes, ruled businesses are not entitled to the same protections as individuals.
 
The data has been published by Environmental Health News (EHN) which has produced an interactive map. Clicking on the pins on the map reveals corporate landlords or property firms which have been fined, how much and what for.
 
According to the data the most prosecuted property firm is Burnley-based Aspire Group Developments, which rents out hundreds of properties across former Lancashire mill towns. It has been successfully prosecuted five times under the Housing Act 2004.
 
Aspire is owned by Jamie Carter, a former Barclays bank management trainee turned property developer, who built up his rental empire by buying from people desperate to sell as well as buying cheap property at auctions. It has assets worth just over £13m. It trades under the name Aspire Home Lettings, previously Aspire Group Developments.
 
The firm was prosecuted last year for failing to make repairs to dilapidated pigeon-infested house with broken windows in Oldham. The 80-year-old tenant complained to Oldham Council but Aspire ignored a notice requiring it to make improvements within 56 days. 
 
Aspire was also prosecuted by Burley Council for ignoring problems in one of its properties, including blocked drains and overflowing waste pipes. 
 
According to Environmental Health News Aspire has received £168,690 in housing benefit so far this year from Burnley Council. Last year it received £184,287. 
 
Carter admitted to EHN there had been a “small number of incidents” where Aspire hadn’t “got it exactly right” but insisted there was “no money” to be made from the housing benefit system. 
 
Other firms named and shamed on the database include Midas Property Management in Liverpool and Watchstar Ltd and Watchacre Ltd in Haringey, London. 
 
Watchstar and Watchacre are both owned by Mehmet Parlak who was fined £40,000 for HMO offences last year and £23,000 in 2012.
 
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health vice president Stephen Battersby said criminal landlords should not be able to operate in the housing market. 
 
“The fact that these agents have been prosecuted successfully means they can safely be described as criminal - that is fact. These are the firms who should not be allowed to operate in the private rented sector,” he said. 
 
Battersby said the firms on the database were only the “tip of the iceberg” as prosecutions were usually a last resort.
 
“It is only when the notice has failed to be complied with or license breached or no licence applied for after requests do authorities move to think of prosecution,” he said. “So these prosecutions are only the tip of the iceberg. Even if many landlords act responsibly, this data indicates that far too many landlords around the country are getting away with flouting the law and endangering their tenants.”
 
EHN created the database by linking the MoJ’s list of prosecuted firms to, where possible, publically available court reports, council press releases and company addresses.
 
 
 

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