A landlord showed a “flagrant disregard” for her duties, including failing to replace a condemned boiler, and has been struck off.
In Scotland there is a mandatory register of private landlords and Glasgow’s licensing committee has removed Madiha Tariq after hearing how she failed to provide basic gas and electrical safety certificates.
An inspection of her property in the city - back in 2018 - found damp and mould on walls, a Do Not Use sign on a boiler, gutters in need of repair and radiators in poor condition.
The tenant had recently advised inspectors that she continued to use the boiler having allegedly signed a disclaimer letter.
A council official says the landlord, who did not attend the licensing hearing this month, had five properties in the city.
The case was taken to the housing and property chamber of the first-tier tribunal for Scotland. The chamber ruled in July 2019 that the landlord had failed to comply with a repairing standard enforcement order and a rent relief order slashed the rent by 90 per cent.
The chamber’s most recent decision says: “The overwhelming evidence was that the landlord simply failed to engage with the tenant at any level in relation to the condition of the property.
“Only the most minimal attention has been paid to her obligations.
“The tribunal considered that the landlord’s continuing failure to comply with her duties is a matter of the utmost concern.
“She has failed to provide basic safety certificates in respect of gas and electrical installations, and has failed to attend to a service, replacement or repair of a condemned central heating boiler.
“The tribunal has rarely been faced with such a flagrant disregard for the duties of a landlord and takes the most serious view of the situation.”
Councillor Alex Wilson, who chairs the licensing committee, comments: “The failure to provide gas certificates, carbon monoxide, legionella, these are all things that can lead to death, and certainly to injury.
“I think the fact that they haven’t provided any of these items timeously is of great concern to this committee, given the fact we have a history in this city where there were a couple of deaths due to fire.”
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I am in no way, condoning the landlords behaviour, but is this the way to handle the matter? Will it help the tenants? The council will be far better, putting their efforts into remedying the defects in the property and taking the cost out of the rent. This would rectify the problem and provide the tenants with the help they need. Prosecuting landlords, achieves very little where is the evidence that punishment provides a deterrence?
The failure to provide gas certificates carbon monoxide detectors and legionnaires disease assessments will result in how many deaths? Do your research Councillor Wilson, the risk of death or injury is negligible. A lot of hot air over nothing. By the way, have you looked at your own housing lately?
Oh come on Jim, dodgy boiler, mould, and countless other bits and bobs no doubt. This is clearly a Landlord who needs booting out.
These kinds of landlords just get the sector a bad name, I have zero sympathy. These are not minor issues and you can be sure that they've been raised over and over again and they got nowhere.
The boiler certainly should have been replaced, and the gutters as well, likely the mould had more to do with the tenants themselves
I'm with Jim on this debate. Again not condoning this Landlord's behaviour but rectifying, making the property safe and taking the money from the rent seems a very sensible way forward to me.
Charge the Landlord for all costs. To me it's a win win.
If a punishment is needed, 100 hours community service would be sufficient!
I do think mould is a complicated issue - the tenants frequently cause it by not heating the property and by drying clothes indoors on radiators etc. Mould will then form on the coldest surface. It is rather unfair to blame the landlord in those circumstances. The only thing you could blame the landlord for is for not warning the tenants about how mould is formed and caused. Some tenants will ignore the warning though.
I am contemplating remaining as a landlord over the winter, and am looking out for unlimited energy deals for the tenants which I will put in my name. I am making enquiries everywhere. I do think that the Government could press for these for certain groups including the elderly and for landlords who keep the utility bills in their names.
Read the Article again. No EICR, No Gas Cert, Broken Boiler and mould - they deserve the book thrown at them.
I wasn't referring to that particular landlord in respect of mould. It is an issue which affects us all when tenants don't heat the property and dry clothes indoors.
Mould can also form when there is a leak etc which is the landlord's responsibility to fix. I have no idea why it formed in this particular case - the landlord in the article.
However, whoever is to blame for the mould forming, if there is any question of the tenant's health being affected then the landlord should deal with it in a timely manner - although it may return if they continue with the behaviour which is causing the mould.
Yes blame the tenants as many struggle to pay heating bills.
Ellie - I don't think you're going to find an unlimited energy deal. That's about as likely as finding a cash machine spewing out free money.
I include heating in all my HMOs and student houses and never have a serious mould problem in any of those properties. I have heating programmers with multiple time and temperature settings a day. The best ones can be set from my phone and don't require me to visit the property other than to change the batteries once a year. They're usually set to around 17 degrees at night, 21 when they're likely to be getting up, 19 through the day, 20 or 21 in the evening. The tenants can boost the temperature any time they want and then it returns to it's programme after a while. Most of mine use between about 13000 and 17000 kWhs of gas a year and have between 4 and 6 occupants. Mainly EPC C except the 6 person one which is registered as E but is probably D.
I have had unlimited energy deals twice before, Jo. They did used to exist. I don't think there is one at the moment.
They base the yearly price on the amount of energy used in the previous year. This means that the price will go up the following year if more energy is used. I think it is worth it to make sure that everyone is comfortable. I keep my rents very low so it would be a viable proposition in my business model.
Your system sounds a good one, although all my properties are self-contained flats with one tenancy contract per flat. I don't let rooms.
She did what my rouge landlords did or they couldn't be bothered to and they'll get struck off and that one deserves it.
Sandra if a tenant can't afford the heating bills then they need to take action themselves, work harder to earn more or move to somewhere cheaper, as for blaming tenants for mould that's perfectly correct, I have one where there is condensation in the woman's daughter's box room bedroom, I 've attended to it as best I can and advised the tenant to open the daughters
's bedroom window while the daughter is at school, does she open that window does she hell, and gets aggressive when I remind her to do so, she doesn't work and has no intension of doing so, if people won't help themselves then they deserve all they get
Come on Sandra, cheer up....
Will tell you a story, tenant of mine has wrecked my flat, smashed holes in the walls, sold the wall heaters for drugs and now complains about damp and mould. Smashed holes in the roof over the kitchen and bathroom but not her bedroom. Council come along and serve me with an improvement notice to repair everything she trashed? current cost is 14k and counting (Just paid another 900 to go to the next stage of kicking her out).
who would be a landlord.....?
Those tenants should be prosecuted!
Peter where the damage is over £10,000, the case would have to be tried on indictment in the Crown Court where the maximum sentence is ten years imprisonment. If the reason for the damage were revenge then that would lead to a heavier sentence, as would be the case if emergency equipment were damaged.
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