A rogue landlord has been fined £2,000 and must pay a victim surcharge of £22 after pleading guilty to breaching a prohibition notice preventing him letting a property.

Leicester council’s private sector housing team had served the prohibition order on a bedsit in the city in November 2018. The bedsit is one of a number in the property which has been converted into self-contained bedsit accommodation.

The bedsit was an inner room in the property and was considered unfit for human habitation owing to a lack of natural ventilation, lack of natural lighting and no view to the outside. 

The only window in the room was a skylight.

The property was reported to the private sector housing team in April 2020 and on inspection it was found that the bedsit had been let out, breaching the Prohibition Order. 

Rahul Patel of Birstall pleaded guilty at Leicester Magistrates Court to breaching a prohibition order on a property he owned.

The court made Patel subject to a conditional discharge for 18 months and ordered him to pay £2000 costs and a victim surcharge of £22, to be paid at £200 a month.

A council spokeswoman said: “Around 35 per cent of properties in the city are rented from private landlords. All landlords have a duty to make sure their properties are fit to live in, and we will take action when we find this basic duty is being breached.”