Landlord fined £5,600 for property repair failures

A private landlord who allowed a Lancashire property to fall into extensive disrepair and ignored repeated requests to carry out improvements has been fined £5,600.

Wajid Mahmood, 41, of Holden Street, Clitheroe, pleaded guilty last week to failing to comply with an improvement notice in a case brought by Ribble Valley Borough Council.

Blackburn magistrates fined him £2,025 and ordered him to pay costs totalling £2,846.54, making a total of £5,601.54.

The case concerned a property in Bawdlands, Clitheroe, which was owned jointly by Mahmood and another man.

Both were initially jointly charged, but in light of Mahmood’s guilty plea the council withdrew the charge against the second man on the grounds that it was not in the public interest to continue.

STATE OF DISREPAIR

Magistrates were told that the poor state of the property and the long-running fight to get issues sorted had a serious impact on the tenant’s mental health.

A tenant was unable to wash himself properly due to a lack of hot running water, the court heard.

The council will take strong action against the small minority of private landlords who make their tenants’ lives hell.

Other issues included the front door of the ground floor flat not locking.

Following further calls to the council reporting extensive disrepair to the property, council environmental health staff inspected the flat and found serious hazards including significant damp and mould growth, a defective boiler, faulty electrics and no hot running water.

The council issued an improvement notice to the landlords requiring remedial works be carried out.

Subsequently, a new tenant moved in and also complained to the council about ongoing problems with the property.

Council staff carried out another inspection which found the majority of the repairs listed in the improvement notice had not been carried out.

In mitigation, the court was told that Mahmood had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and that he had lost his good character. He accepted that mistakes had been made, but a close family member had serious health issues which required his time and attention, the court heard.

He accepted works had been carried out later than they should, but most had now been completed.

COUNCIL ACTION

Councillor Mark Hindle, chairman of the council’s health and housing committee, says: “This case shows clearly that the council will take strong action against the small minority of private landlords who make their tenants’ lives hell by allowing their properties to become so poor they don’t meet even the most basic needs.

“Rented properties should be safe, clean and secure and landlords have a moral, as well as legal, duty to ensure they meet the proper standards. In this case the tenant was badly let down and the state of the property was so bad, without basic essentials such as hot water or heating, that it had a detrimental impact on his mental and physical wellbeing.

“The joint landlords had plenty of opportunities to make things right but they did essentially nothing to improve the situation.”