Half a million fine for HMO landlord who put tenants at risk

Its a big fine probably a lot wrong and a lot of income there too. However it must have been a HMO Licensed premises as he didn’t get fined for not having one.
Therefore the HMO License didn’t prevent any of this but more likely to be the cause. It sounds to me like a classic creation of a HM0 Licensing Scheme with cooking in rooms and other things mentioned here etc.
Can’t see the landlord covering fire alarms, can’t see landlord damaging fire doors, can’t see landlord pulling electric socket out of the wall that will be down to Donkey Kong.
I have come across all this in my time including the mushroom growing on the wall / fungus, I went to see a relatively new house for sale where there was four rooms let to individuals on Benefit no one working all hanging around all day, plenty of condensation cooker steaming away, obviously water coming down from misuse of bathroom, so please don’t go on about mould & damp until you know what you are talking about.

It's noticeable that Councils, most of which are teetering on bankruptcy and supported far less by the Central Government, are now tasked with policing and raising money to finance their own legal obligations. They are not particularly adept at it yet, but desperation is a keen motivator. There's a lot of money yet to be raised from the private rental sector.

I see someone is tenant blaming again well I welcome this rouge landlord being brought to justice.. Tenants are standing up to them and I know what it's like..If they refused to pay rent this landlord would have acted faster because it's all about collecting the rent money and I'm glad this one was punished.

The Benefit Systems is causing the housing crisis for sure you’ll never keep up with people on that option. I had people come to craving for a place to live, 2 women with 2 teenage children and a man friend, saying we all know each other and get on together, like a family but obviously not a family so I took them and from my experience what would happen did. One goes to Council and says I am living a shared house not suitable for my daughter, guess what the Council gives her a Flat, now in clover all Benefit coming & accommodation provided no need work.
That has upset her friend left behind with her Child, can’t understand why she has to pay rent, doesn’t get Benefit and kept as well. There you go multiply that by a million and tell me about a housing Crisis.
I live in the real World never mind keep attacking landlords.

No one asks where his tenants are living now? In the same house after a costly major refurbishment? In more expensive but better digs elsewhere? In Social housing supplied by the council? In New housing actually paid for using the fine? All highly unlikely…. the headline is attention grabbing but the underlying problem is unsolved.

Well that’ll knock a hole in Mohamed’s prophets.

All of these issues would have attracted the same penalties without a licensing regime, all under existing legislation.

Many councils are at fault but the HMO licences are given willy nilly. Overcrowding and tiny living space without dinning areas or sitting areas. People some with mental health issues expected to live, eat,defecate and sleep in a tiny room with no hope for the future. Lambeth HMO licencing is aware of these situations and choose to do nothing. They have inspected and know these are unsuitable accommodations yet turn the other cheek and have ignored the situation totally. There is an ongoing issue since February this year. No one returns calls or emails so people are just left to their own demise! It is not just about damp and mould these are people caged like animals with no windows!!!!! Who do you turn to when no one is listening????????

Sandra, I don’t blame Tenants on the wrong are you going to tell me the landlord damage his own property. Ever since Shelters 2015 De-Regulation Act claiming property damage as an excuse to fine landlords, when all the Tenants need to do is damage the property and report it to the Council to avoid eviction and get landlords fined as in virtually all cases Tenants are not prosecuted. I have seen alarms covered, Fire doors damaged, locks changed by Tenants and all doors closers removed. So the landlord is fined for what the Tenants does. It must be the new injustice system. As for someone talking about mismanagement of a 22 bed HM0, be aware your turn might come when you get those type of people backed up by the law.
They will frustrate the system not allow inspections claiming their right to peaceful and quiet enjoyment of the property breach that and see how you go on in Court.

In the real world tenants don't want to be woken up at 3am cos someone takes a shower and then leaves the door of the improperly-ventilated bathroom open so that the steam sets off the badly-placed smoke alarm and likewise nobody in a shared house would possibly want to tolerate the constant banging shut of doors fitted with cheap spring-loaded door-closers with no dampers. And yes of course tenants are going to change the locks to their own property if they have any reason not to trust the landlord, his agency staff, any random lackeys he employs to do odd-jobs, or any of the other strangers present and past that may live or have lived there and whose vetting by the landlord could have been minimal and might include people with mental disorders and/or criminal records.

Housemartin what you have written is fictitious, why? Further you are obviously in the legal profession angling for work.

House Martin ha ha if you are eluding to me no cheap perco type spring loaded door closers costing a fiver, nice try, only Briton over head surface mounted door closers now shake a stick at that.

If you like pain(financial or mental ), if you like humiliation and degradation, if you enjoy being bullied, then be a landlord in this country.
So if your house looks like a doll , because you spent tens of thousands for renovation and the price of the rent reflects your spending, you are called greedy landlord. If your house is liveable but not luxurious and the price is cheap and affordable, then you are a rogue landlord.
In summary- don’t be a landlord, invest your money in a sensible and profitable way, if you want to be a landlord- don’t be complaining , that it’s a miserable and degrading experience.
Now how do I get rid of my tenants who pay £400 for a two bed with a driveway and a large garden when a house like that is 100% more in my town?! Only the call out for a leaking toilet is £120 and the rent will be enough only to cover the toilet repair. Sandra, could you help me please- take those two and their kid in your house. You seem to be a very knowledgeable woman.Thank you very much in advance

You took on the responsibility so stop moaning.

There should be more controls , there are la landlords out there taking advantage of the high demand and end up building small box rooms , exceeding the HMo application , most of them illegally renting , abounding the tax man , sometimes council are hand in hand . And unfortunately this are the Indians landlords which think that people should live in bad conditions. Ealing council is one of the worst

The another issue is AirBnB poking their nose into our Business, better to get their own house in order.
An Italian Judge has Ordered the seizure of €779.5m from Short term let’s for alleged tax evasion. Suppose to stop 21% retention tax from landlords and hand it over to Government, This has serious implications for the Company especially if other Europeans decide to follow suit.

Cosmin
Their are undoubtably criminals who will exploit any situation, especially people who come from a country with corrupt officials and disregard for the law. Unfortunately decent law abiding landlords are being driven out , leaving a vacuum for these type of people. Just like the drugs trade and people trafficking. As an indigenous Brit we are facing a dystopian future.

Sandra, my friend surely the Tenants didn’t move into a dilapidated property. So the problems occurred while they were living there and the landlord is not living there so it can’t his negligence that caused the problems.
We didn’t accept any of this, that would imply we had a choice which we didn’t it was unfairly imposed on us after the event.
We were already there operating a business taking advantage of and held to Ransom.

So True Micheal Sandra is a tenant with a big chip on her shoulder, I ve had so much damage to my HMOs in the past that tenants don't like fire doors they get in the way so jam them open I've seen extractor fans with a stick used in so they dot make noise fire alarms ripped down or simply smashed in place with hammer marks around it seen wet items drying on heaters and of course, no one likes to open a window as it lets the cold in, damaged sockets are the norm ts surprising how much you can damage when you had a bad day a drink or a bit of drugs but they don't care the simple matter is the landlord has no power to control this its like trying to heard cats
Let Sandra buy her own house but no she will cant afford that well Sandra the wind has changed the landlords are no longer to be held at Ransome with all the knives pointing at one person whose powers have been taken away from them. Ive got out and a lot happy for it