A buy-to-let landlord has been ordered to pay just over £90,000 for repeatedly ignoring selective licensing laws in north London.
Stephen Ige pleaded guilty in Willesden Magistrate Court to knowingly renting out three properties, a ground floor flat in Chaplin Road, Willesden Green, and ground and first floor flats in Douglas Road, Kilburn, to tenants without a licence from Brent Council.
Ige was ordered to pay a £25,000 fine for each of the unlicensed properties, £5,000 for failing to supply documents to the council when requested, and £10,763 in court costs to the council, totalling £90,863 including a victim surcharge.
Cllr Eleanor Southwood, cabinet member for housing and welfare reform, commented: “Renting out a property is a serious business and in Brent we have introduced selective licensing to ensure that tenants are living in safe, well managed homes.
“Licensing does this by making sure properties are properly managed by a landlord or agent, setting standards that the landlord must meet for the benefit of the occupiers and the community in general.”
Ige, who owns a number of properties in Brent, had previously been found to have illegally let out two other properties requiring licences.
He was fined £5,000 and warned to make sure he applied for property licences where required, but continued to ignore the law and his responsibilities towards the safety of his tenants.
Southwood added: “If you are a landlord in a selective licensing area, failing to licence your property puts you at risk of being prosecuted and fined.
“While the council did not identify any serious concerns with the current state of Mr Ige's properties, our licensing scheme is designed to give tenants confidence that they are living in homes that are safe. Challenging landlords who don't comply is a priority.”
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Could I ask a tiny little question, "Was/is he a good landlord to the tenants?"
All this article is about is a load of office based opinionistas deing annoyed because someone is annoyed at paying them money for nothing. The Mafia work like this (So I am told.)
Councils must love these landlords quietly .. the fines add nicely to their coffers
Sounds like a £90k fine for not wanting to pay Brents' licence fee. The article confirms his properties were compliant otherwise. Not sure why his tenants would have more confidence that he was obeying the law by paying the council a fee for them to enforce that legislation. Surely legislation needs to be obeyed and enforced whether you pay the council to enforce it or not? What next, pay the police to a licence fee on top of road tax, fuel duty, council tax etc for them to enforce the speed limit?
Probably not as this licencing scheme is simply a) a vehicle for local councils to increase revenues, b) it allows them to create a database of LLs that is very useful for HMRC and other agencies, and c) applies more thumb screws to PRS LLs.
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