The landlord of two flats in Cardiff has been fined over £4,500 for failing to fix fire safety defects after being served a legal notice.

Landlord Christopher Harper had failed to rectify fire safety defects at two of his rented flats in Cardiff.

The notices ordered him to fix a number of faults including a defective fire alarm, an insecure front door, and “inadequate structural fire protection”.

Harper also failed to submit gas and electricity certificates “in line with the licensing requirements”. 

Harper did not appear for a court hearing and was convicted in his absence.

He was charged with “failing to comply with operative improvement notices under the Housing Act 2004” and was fined a total of £3,000 and ordered to pay £360 in costs. Additionally, he was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £1,200.

A Cardiff council spokesperson says: “The majority of private sector landlords provide a very good service for their residents, but unfortunately there is a minority that do not.

“When we take these matters to court, we do this to benefit the residents living at these properties, so that the faults identified are fixed and the properties are safe to live in. Our officers will continue to act on intelligence that we receive, and in this case we will continue to pursue the landlord until the faults have been rectified.

“This case shows that when we successfully prosecute a private sector landlord, we do follow up these cases to ensure the issues are resolved. In this case, it became clear that Mr Harper wasn’t willing to rectify the faults, so legal notices were served on him. 

“Failure to respond and action these legal notices have resulted him being brought court again and ordered to pay a further £4,500.”