A council has prosecuted a rogue landlord for failing to provide adequate heating and hot water at one of his rental properties.
Philip Spence, of Mickleover, failed to act when the boiler broke down, leaving tenants with inadequate heating or and hot water during November and December 2022 including one week when a severe cold weather alert was issued by the Met Office warning of sub-zero temperatures in the East Midlands.
The extreme cold in the house caused ice to form on the inside of the bedroom windows and the lack of hot water meant the tenants could not wash or bathe properly.
The tenants contacted Derby council to say that their boiler had broken and they had lost heating and hot water. When council officers inspected the property they found the boiler was leaking water and some of the radiators had rust-coloured sludge seeping from them.
For several weeks Spence ignored his tenants’ pleas to fix the boiler, and on December 2 2022 a notice was served giving him seven days to repair or replace the heating system. However, he failed to do so, leaving the council to carry out the works.
Now - in a hearing at Derby Magistrates Court - Spence has been found guilty of charges relating to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and ordered to pay £2,908.17 in costs, £3,719.58 to reimburse the council for the cost of a new boiler and associated works, and £3,000 in compensation to the tenants.
Councillor Baggy Shanker, leader of Derby council, says: “Everyone deserves a safe, comfortable accommodation and landlords have a duty of care to their tenants to provide this. While the vast majority of private landlords take this obligation seriously, there are a small minority who don’t.”
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Shame on that excuse for a landlord but if this hurts whoever it is he's not fit to be a landlord and good for those who reported this issue.
I do agree Sandra, sometimes boilers break down I've had this happen at home, when one breaks down at a rental property I supply plug in heaters, while waiting for a heating eng' to repair/ replace the boiler these things happen
As a landlord, it brings shame. No wonder there are reforms coming along with selective licencing. Hopefully, people like this leave the sector.
Shows you can complain to the council without fear of eviction. Also shows you don't need a licencing scheme to deal with these kind of issues.
Good on the council for carrying out the works when the landlord refused.
Exactlu John and doesn't that make a lot more sense than fining the landlord
I don’t buy all those sob stories at face value, yes Boilers do break down because of the introduction of Technology..
This used never be the case traditional Boilers might break down once in 20 years because there was nothing to go wrong usually gravity hot water with hot water storage tank and immersion heater element back up.
Different now with Combi Boilers in the main and when it goes down usually no hot water either, haven’t you seen the queues for electric components and printed Circuits Boards every recent winter.
I am not going to be an apologist for this LL.
Yes he should have got it fixed but as always there will be more to this. I am not going to believe it was 2 months or to occupant were frozen. They were adults to be Renting and if the truth be known they are likely to have borrowed a couple of heaters or even get a couple of fan heaters from a local electric or hardware Shop probably for a tenner, I have bought those with automatic cut out and thermostat control for £8.00,
I think £10 grand hit is over the top & £3k was easy money for the Tenants anyone would think they were disabled. Spare a thought for buyers with Mortgage’s if they get a break down they have to deal with it no one giving them a soft £3k or Council running to get it fixed. but we must molly cuddled and encourage others to claim soft money from the fall guy’s.
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