A £4,550 fine has been upheld after an appeal by the landlord was rejected by a property tribunal.

Fenland council served five civil penalty notices on the landlord earlier this year for failing to rectify safety hazards at the block of flats he owned.

The landlord appealed one of the penalty notices relating to defective windows, which was heard by the Eastern Residential Property First-tier Tribunal; this has now published its findings and dismissed the appeal. 

Fenland council officers first inspected the block of three flats in Wisbech in early 2018 and identified significant breaches of regulations including non-working fire alarm system and defects to the fire doors; building defects including damp, severely worn carpets on the stairs, insufficient heating and inadequate security; and defective, warped and rotting windows

The council served improvement notices requiring remedial works but the woek was not completed within the specified time scale or not to the standard required. Consequently, the council issued five civil penalty notices for failing to comply with the improvement notices, totalling £8,852.

To date, that particular council has served 29 civil penalties ranging from fines of £500 to £30,000 and a spokeswoman says: “We will not hesitate to use legal powers to improve standards in the private rented sector and landlords who place the health and safety of tenants at risk can expect enforcement action to be taken against them. It’s also a warning to tenants that if they sublet, we can and will serve penalties on them as they are in effect the landlord.”