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Breaking News
09 September 2022
Graham Norwood
By Graham Norwood
Graham Awards

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* Angels Media and Landlord Today are deeply saddened by the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II *

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A landlord has been ordered to pay £24,000 in a fine and costs after housing five tenants in a dangerous property.

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Barnet council says it discovered issues including damaged doors and an insecure front door at the HMO.

Officers reported an overbearing smell and a first-floor landing blocked by so many items that a tenant had to climb over them to enter and leave his room.

The conditions were so dangerous that the council served an Emergency Prohibition Order requiring the tenants to immediately leave the property in Colindale for their safety.

Landlord Rakesh Shah was found guilty of four offences at Willesden Magistrates Court after police reports of drugs at his property. 

The landlord was also made to attend training and obtain accreditation through the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme as a condition of securing his HMO licence from Barnet council.

The council will renew its HMO licensing scheme on October 27 2022, requiring the majority of HMOs in the borough to be licenced and to maintain safety standards.

Councillor Ross Houston, chair of the housing committee, says: “We will not tolerate landlords who flout the rules in Barnet. The safety of our residents is paramount. It is the responsibility of landlords to keep their properties safe, though our Private Sector Housing Team will help them wherever possible. 

“Landlords who let unlicensed HMOs or fail to manage them properly risk prosecution or penalty notices of up to £30,000.  We are committed to providing quality, affordable and safe housing for our residents – please play your role to help make Barnet a better place.”

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  • icon

    That is one version of events. Another version could read that the landlord was housing vulnerable tenants which is PC speak for unemployed, unemployable and dysfunctional people at a fraction of the cost that the social sector in Barnett charge the council or the council have to pay to house such tenants. The doors were damaged by the tenants who kept losing their keys and with such tenants the normal way of opening a door is to kick it open. The landlord got fed up repairing the doors. As for the obstruction in the landing this was tenants putting the stuff in the way. Nothing to do with the landlord. If it had been a single let no one would question The tenant putting stuff in the hall and landing.

    How licensing is going to change anything I do not know as the council has the power to deal with such matters already.

    Where did the tenants go when the building was shut down? they were probably rehoused by the social sector which cost the tax payer at least three times as much as the landlord was getting assuming he was being paid which often is not the case due to the dysfunctional universal credit system.

    The moral of the story - don’t house dysfunctional tenants. Let them freeze to death on the streets or be housed at great expense to the taxpayer. Well done Barnett another landlord who will no doubt sell up increasing the demand for social housing so you can put pressure on the government to increase your social housing empire. What do you expect when the major competitor to the PRS also polices the PRS and is largely exempt from the same legislation that applies to the PRS!
    Jim Haliburton
    The HMO Daddy

  • Yvette Graham

    Jim Haliburton - that is an Excellent and far more likely version of events !!!

  • icon

    Dysfunctional tenants, don't touch them, leave them to councils and housing associations where they belong

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