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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

46 tenants made homeless from converted office

Forty-six residents of a block of converted flats in Luton have been forced to leave their homes after it emerged the property did not have sufficient fire safety measures in place or the appropriate HMO licence.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and Luton Borough Council served a prohibition order on 2 June for violations of Fire Safety Codes relating to 10 Midland Road, Luton.

The prohibition order was served on the landlord Mohammed Nadeem following an inspection of converted flats within parts of a commercial building which were unsuitably protected from fire and the spread of fire.

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The fire prohibition order prevents any persons from resting or sleeping in the premises.

A day nursery and other businesses at the address can however continue to function as normal as they are not affected by these issues.
 
The closure was the one of the first acts of the council’s new “rogue landlord team” comprising fire safety, planning enforcement and housing officers from the Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and Luton Borough Council, and which came into force just the day before.
 
The authorities were alerted to the address after receiving a referral from Luton's Citizen's Advice Bureau.
 
Luton Borough Council has helped some of the tenants find alternative accommodation. Three households have been assessed as having priority needs and placed in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation. 13 other households have been offered advice.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service operational commander Simon Barker said: “The Fire and Rescue Service’s job is not only to put fires out but to prevent them and their tragic consequences. Working with Luton Borough Council in the rogue landlord scheme will ensure people who rent a property in Luton are properly protected.
 
“We served our prohibition order to protect the occupants and it will not be lifted until the owner carries out suitable restoration work to make the building fire-safe subject to appropriate planning and building regulation approval.
 
“It is unfortunate these people have had to leave what was their home but we could not allow them to stay there without proper fire safety, their lives were at risk and we could not let this situation continue as it is our duty to protect the public.”

Cllr Tom Shaw, portfolio holder for housing at Luton Borough Council, confirmed the authority is investigating alleged breaches at the address of planning contraventions and regulations relating to Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs).
 
He said: “The council is committed to actively working to ensure tenant safety in both social and private sector housing.
 
“Clearly our first priority was to work with the fire and rescue service to protect people’s safety, and then to assess the households affected and either identify temporary accommodation or help them find somewhere else to stay in the private sector. If there is anybody still in need of our assistance we would urge them to come to the town hall or telephone us.
 
“Industrial units cannot be divided into flats without appropriate planning permission and building regulation from the planning authority, and all landlords of addresses with two or more households are required to apply for an HMO licence.
 
“Any landlord or owner of properties we suspect are acting in an illegal way we will use all the powers at our disposal to pursue them. While our investigations are continuing it is not possible to comment further at this stage.”

Nadeem told Luton Today that the order was a temporary measure and denied responsibility for the failings.

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

  • Michael Lamoureux

    Wow that was a street party to remember! Never new I had so many nice neighbours.

  • Kenny Sahota

    '13 other households have been offered advice'

    I doubt that will realistically help their plight. It's an awful situation for these tenants who have to now suffer at the hands of a terrible landlord. Let's hope this serves as a lesson to landlords to ensure that they are playing by the rules.

  • Felicity Blair

    Let's hope this 'Rogue landlord team' continue to sift the good from the bad in the lettings industry to help protect tenants. Fire safety is no joking matter, thank goodness Mr Nadeem was served this order before anything awful happened.

  • Kelly Evans

    Another isolated incident blown up by the media to scapegoat private landlords. Yes, this is a shocking example of a rogue landlord at work and he should be fined heavily and stripped of his properties, but it's not in any way representative of the landlord community as a whole.

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    So what happens to these tenants that haven't been housed then? Absolutely scandalous

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    I think this is a big issue, Kelly and to say otherwise is a bit churlish of you. No one is saying it is representative of anything.. When the landlord says he is not responsible for the failings, whose fault exactly is it then?

  • Tim Gorgulu

    Some of these landlords are their own worst enemies, aren't they?

  • Jon  Tarrey

    Kelly likes defending the indefensible, John. She's very good at it. In her mind, there is a nationwide conspiracy against estate agents, landlords and anyone else in the property industry. They can do no wrong in her eyes and yet they still get criticised. She can't fathom this.

    That's why she gets so defensive against any criticism of her beloved profession.

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    Well I think stories like this should be reported as widely as possible and whoever is to blame should have the book thrown at them...Just look how strongly people feel and how quickly things can take shape when it comes to homelessness/evictions , the latest petition against Foxtons being case and point

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