A landlord has been found guilty of misleading young tenants and requiring them to pay additional money for their deposits following an investigation by Bristol council.

Josefina Velazquez of Redland in Bristol pleaded guilty to three charges at the city’s Magistrates Court and was ordered to pay more than £11,000 in fines and costs. 

The three charges related to Velazquez misleading her young student tenants about their tenancies so that she could unfairly take more money from them than they expected to pay.

The investigation uncovered a pattern of behaviour by Velazquez involving two separate sets of tenants, dating from 2022 to 2024. She advertised deposits at a lower amount than she actually charged, and she misled her tenants about their legal rights, particularly in relation to security deposits.

Velazquez only refunded this money to her student tenants, amounting to £6,924, once notified by Bristol council that they intended to prosecute her.

District Judge Matthews instructed Velazques to work with the council to amend her business practices and also emphasised the vulnerability of young student tenants who may be desperate to secure accommodation within a limited time frame.

An authority spokesperson says: “We take the rights of tenants very seriously and will continue to take action against landlords who fail in their duties. This case highlights the importance of potential tenants being given the full picture before entering into a tenancy agreement. We want to make sure that tenants feel confident speaking up when they have an issue with their landlord, and we will look at taking action against any Bristol landlord or agent who systematically misleads their tenants. I would like to thank the officers in the Private Housing Service who helped to expose and prosecute these terrible practices.”