Landlord fined £17,500 after letting agency ignores council warnings
Despite a number of attempts to secure an application from the landlord and his agency, including a final warning, no paperwork was ever completed.
Ashfield District Council has successfully fined a Southwell-based landlord £17,500 for failing to license two of his properties in Sutton in Ashfield (main picture).
Despite a number of attempts to secure an application from the landlord and agency, including a final warning advising of the consequences of failing to license the two properties, the landlord still did not submit any application or paperwork required for the properties.
IDENTIFIED
However, the landlord who was fined cannot be identified as an agreed condition of them accepting the penalty.
The properties in Sutton are in the Council’s Selective Licensing Scheme which means that all landlords with any privately rented properties in the selected area will need a licence for these properties.
As part of the investigation, officers visited the two properties and identified that they were occupied and there were concerns relating to the safety of the properties, which is being dealt with separately to the licencing offences.
John Bennett, Executive Director of Place, Ashfield District Council, says: “It is a criminal offence to let a privately rented property in a designated area without a Selective Licence in place.
“Penalties include prosecution and an unlimited fine or a financial penalty up to £30,000. Enforcement action is always a last result, we will always try to engage with, and support landlords to apply for their license first.”
He adds: “Selective Licensing has brought real positive changes to the designated areas and allows the Council to regulate the housing for the safety of both the tenants and the landlords.”
INVESTIGATIONS
Ashfield District Council has so far served six financial penalties on landlords by who have failed to licence their property or breached their duties totalling over £56,500 with an additional 10 ongoing investigations for similar offences.
Elsewhere, agents in the Hollins Bank area of Blackburn are poised to embrace selective licensing after the local council put in place a consultation on the scheme. If the proposals are agreed landlords of privately rented properties will require a licence.
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council said it wanted to improve the management of the private rented stock in the area.
