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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Landlord fined for renting out bed in shed

A landlord has been fined ordered to pay £5,000 for allowing tenants to sleep in an outbuilding in Enfield, north London.

Sanjiv Shah, of Rowantree Road, Enfield, has been punished for housing tenants in a garden shed in Nags Head Road, despite an order from Enfield Council banning him from renting it out.

The landlord was given a Prohibition Order in September last year after inspections discovered a shed in use as a home despite not having appropriate insulation or an independent electricity supply. But he chose to ignore it.

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The landlord pleaded guilty for failing to comply with the order issued by the council.

In a statement a council spokesperson said: “Inspections by Enfield Council officers highlighted hazards that left the building cold and uninhabitable.

“Some hazards were assessed as posing a serious threat to the health or safety of people living or visiting the accommodation.”

At his sentencing at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, Shah was ordered to pay a fine of £2,600, costs of £2,441.35 and a victim surcharge of £170.

Enfield Council’s leader Cllr Nesil Caliskan, commented: “Housing and making sure residents in Enfield have decent homes to live in is one of my top priorities for the Council.

“There is no excuse for renting out property that does not meet the basic housing requirements.

“Enfield Council will come down hard on unscrupulous landlords not meeting their responsibilities and who think they are above the law.

“We will continue to strive to eliminate unacceptable housing in our borough – such as the so-called beds in shed.

“We will safeguard those in our society who may be vulnerable and easy targets for rogue landlords.”

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    A £2600 fine seems pretty paltry for renting out a shed. The landlord probably made more than that from rent, hardly a deterrent!

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    I think a prison sentence for allowing someone to live in a shed and profit from it is appropriate, this should be a satisfactory deterrent.

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    Renting out a shed for a person to live in is clearly not acceptable but the council say they will stop it but do not say they will house people. There is simply not enough accommodation in some areas and this is the sorry consequence. As Barry says the small fine will not be a deterrent to others contemplating doing the same thing. Councils need to build more affordable housing. Governments need to stop trying to reduce number of good B2L landlords by heavy taxation.

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    i have slept in a shed--it was ok

    depends?

  • Calum Clark

    Interesting article but the small fine won't be enough to stop over landlords from potentially doing it.

    There is a slight typo that you may need to fix "A landlord has been fined ordered"

  • Daniela Provvedi

    Landlord, landlord, landlord, why just talk about the landlord. It takes 2 to tango. What about the tenant? Who in their right mind would want to live in a shed? Don't mind doing it for a couple of days, but not more than that.
    The landlord rented out his shed, because the tenant was willing to accept it. Period.

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