Evict a rogue Landlord - Shelter...

theartfullodger

Well done Oxford & Edinburgh councils for these two actions...

Oxford for jailing a landlord for 3 months...
&
Edinburgh from banning a Landlord from letting property to anyone...

Landlord jailed for illegal eviction

A landlord has been jailed for three months after illegally evicting a young couple and their four-month-old baby. He was also ordered to pay a total of £4500 in costs and compensation.

Mr Bayton Fundira, was jailed after the court heard that he went to his house of multiple occupation in Hollow Way on November 4th 2010 and entered the room he rented to the young family.

The landlord, who lives in Hollow Way, removed all their possessions from the room and changed the lock to the door.

The eviction was discovered when one of the tenants returned home from work on the same day and found the door to his room locked and all their possessions dumped in the kitchen extension.

Oxford City Council’s Tenancy Relations Officer, Jackie Mogridge, visited the next day to carry out an investigation and discovered Mr Fundira had moved another tenant into the room.

The 34-year-old had been found guilty of an offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 by magistrates sitting at Oxford Magistrates Court on 6 February 2012 following a two day trial.

The magistrates sentenced the landlord to three months in prison on 19 March.

Mr Fundira appealed against his sentence today and his appeal was dismissed. He was ordered to pay £2000 costs and £2500 compensation to the evicted family.

Councillor Ed Turner, Deputy Leader of Oxford City Council, says: “The courts have sent out a strong message by sending this rogue landlord to prison for three months.

“It is the Council’s responsibility to help protect the vulnerable and we are working hard to make sure tenants in the private rented sector in Oxford are not being exploited.

“There is a clear and straightforward legal process for landlords who want to evict their tenants and the courts have backed up our policy of taking tough enforcement action against those who illegally take tenants’ homes from them.”

Bayton Fundira is the third landlord in the last two years who has been given a custodial sentence for illegally evicting tenants from their homes following prosecutions by Oxford City Council.

In November 2010, Kenston McIntosh of Freelands Road, Oxford was given a three month prison sentence and in November 2011, Peter Johnson-Bowler, of Magdalen Road Oxford, was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months as well as 60 hours community service.

see source here..
http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decN/newsarticle.htm?newsarticle_itemid=49049

Edinburgh landlord struck off for failing to provide correct licence

Landlord register: Yousef Mohammed will no longer be able to rent out properties in the city.© STV

An Edinburgh man has been struck off the landlord register for failing to have the correct licence for a rented house.

Following the first ruling of its kind in the capital, it will now be a criminal offence for Yousef Mohammed to rent out another property.

At a hearing in front of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Regulatory Committee, Mr Mohammed’s application to operate a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) at a flat in the south of the city was refused, after being found guilty of deliberately attempting to evade the HMO licensing scheme last December.

He was also removed from the Register of Landlords when councillors deemed him not “fit and proper” to operate as a residential landlord in Edinburgh.

Councillors heard that Mr Mohammed had failed to adequately tell them about his criminal convictions and defied previous decisions of the council where he continued to rent our properties whilst not holding a licence.

Councillor Gavin Barrie, convenor for the Regulatory Committee, said: "Edinburgh is open for all landlords who manage their properties and ensure that they are in good condition and that tenants can be safe and secure.

“However, for those who don’t, the council will take firm action. I would encourage everyone seeking to rent privately to check the Landlord Register to ensure that their prospective landlord is registered.”

see source here...
http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/108942-edinburgh-landlord-struck-off-for-failing-to-provide-correct-licence/

tbs624

LandlordToday carries the following report:

Fraudulent letting agent sentenced by court

Friday 13th July 2012

The owner of a letting agent which shut down owing money to tenants and landlords has been sentenced.

Anne Gardiner, former proprietor of Belvoir St Albans, which closed down in November 2009, received a two-year suspended sentence at St Albans Crown Court.

She was also ordered to do 130 hours of community service, and an order was made that confiscation be undertaken and a figure to be agreed to be repaid to the court for the proceeds of crime.

The firm was part of the National Approved Letting Scheme at the time of closure.

Yesterday, NALS said that its NALS Client Money Protection Scheme has reimbursed a total of £192,000 to tenants and landlords whose funds were misappropriated.

(My bolding)
Source

tbs624

Another report from Landlord Today

"Rogue landlord hit with record £330,000 fine

Friday 13th July 2012

A rogue landlord has been hit with what is believed to be the largest fine ever imposed on a landlord in Britain.

Vispasp Sarkari, 50, of Harrow, north London, has been ordered to pay £328,515.

He had built up a property empire worth at least £1.8m by illegally converting four houses into a total of 28 multiple flats.

Sarkari, 50, who served a jail sentence for credit card fraud and has another conviction for breaching fire regulations at one of his properties, must pay up within six months or face three and a half years in jail.

Brent and Harrow councils brought a joint action against Sarkari using new laws that came into force this year, allowing them to prosecute him under the Proceeds of Crime Act, and not the Town and Country Planning Act which carries much lower fines."

Source

theartfullodger

Prison for Landlord Who Broke Fire Safety Rules

A landlord who breached fire safety regulations was given a nine month jail sentence suspended for 12 months.

Robert Price (52) was also was ordered to pay £25,000 with £15,000 costs to be paid within four months, or serve six months imprisonment in default at Leicester Crown Court yesterday.

see...
http://www.leicestershire-fire.gov.uk/media/releases/2012-07-13.shtml

.. which continues...

The court heard that Fire Officers from Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service discovered that students were living in Lillie House, Condit Street, in Leicester City Centre on 5 October 2010. At the time this property was still in the process of being converted to student accommodation.

The accommodation was found to have serious fire safety failings and a prohibition notice was issued to prevent it from being used.

The site was re-visited by Fire Officers following a concern from a member of the public and was found to be in use, in breach of the prohibition notice.

Sentencing Price, His Honour Judge Brown said: “I take a serious view of these matters. Health and safety should at all times be your highest priority as a property developer. It was not. You put profit for yourself above the safety of the students who were going to live in the accommodation you provided. Your conduct I am satisfied fell far below the safety requirements required under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order. You clearly had prior knowledge of the deficiencies not just the day before the students had been in the property for a month. You failed to heed the warning of the architect. You ignored that advice. You failed to heed the warning of the fire safety officers and when a prohibition notice was issued you breached not once but twice. You knowingly allowed occupation when fire safety standards were inadequate and that it was financially motivated.”

A second defendant, Craig Derrick, the Site Foreman, pleaded guilty to one offence and was ordered to pay £5,015 in fines and costs on 22 June 2012 by Leicester Magistrates Court for breaching a fire safety prohibition notice.

Rick Taylor, Area Manager for Community Safety at Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, stated that these were extremely serious offences:

“The sentences reflect the seriousness with which such a flagrant breach of fire safety legislation is viewed. Those put at risk were young students, many of whom were away from home for the first time, placing their trust in Mr Price. These students were let down and misled into believing they could return to their accommodation, despite the serious fire safety failings.”

A breach of prohibition is considered one of the most serious fire safety offences that can be committed and it is encouraging that the sentence reflects the gravity with which the courts view this.

The sentence imposed is consistent with the seriousness with which fire safety offences are increasingly being treated by the courts. A recent case in Nottingham resulted in prison sentences for those found guilty of breaches of fire safety legislation.

theartfullodger

5 more "interesting" shedlord/landlords and one agent in trouble with the Judge. Stone me I resent bad landlords and bad agents: They make life harder for the honest decent ones...

I am grateful to the Garden Court Chambers bulletin for alerting me to these morsels..

Worth signing up for this, at
http://www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk/bulletins/send_bulletins.cfm
an excellent regular newsletter with info on aspects of housing, not just PRS...

For the source please see..
http://www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk/bulletins/category/bulletin_detail.cfm?iBulletinID=761

Hillingdon LBC v Harnek Singh Brar
20 July 2012
The council served an enforcement notice, which was upheld on appeal in September 2010, requiring the defendant landlord to restore an outbuilding (which he was letting) to its original use as a garage and to restore the subdivided main house to a single home. On a prosecution for failure to comply with either requirement, the defendant pleaded guilty. At Uxbridge Magistrates' Court he was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £4,300 costs.

Oxfordshire CC v Dong Lei
20 July 2012
The fire authority served a prohibition notice on the defendant landlord preventing him from allowing people to sleep in the top floor of his house. He ignored the notice and continued to house people on the top floor. At Oxford Magistrates' Court, he pleaded guilty to 12 charges made up of three different offences, committed on four separate occasions. These included failure to comply with the prohibition notice, as well as on-going failures to provide an adequate fire detection system, an alarm system, or a safe means of escape, such that people were at risk of death or serious injury if there were a fire. He was fined £2,250 and ordered to pay costs of £1,300.

Oadby and Wigston BC v Joel Rose
19 July 2012
The defendant landlord let a property which was in an incomplete and unsafe condition. On inspection, there were found to be two category 1 hazards and two category 2 hazards for the purposes of the Housing Act 2004 Part 1.On a prosecution brought by the council, Leicester Magistrates Court fined the landlord £1,500 and ordered him to pay £2,000 costs.

Southend BC v Sukhbir Singh Sandhu
11 July 2012
The defendant was the landlord of a three storey property with one ground floor self-contained flat and nine bedsits sharing one bathroom. At Southend Magistrates' Court he was convicted of running an unlicensed HMO. He was fined £1,500 plus £270 costs.

Reading BC v Abdul Sheikh and Jarvis Properties
9 July 2012
The first defendant was a private landlord of a registered HMO in the council's area. The second defendant was the landlord's managing agent for the property. An inspection by the council's officers, made following a resident's complaint, revealed that: (1) 11 people were living at the property instead of the permitted seven; (2) the fire alarm system was not working; (3) other fire safety provisions such as fire doors and emergency lights were not being maintained; (4) fire safety notices were incorrectly positioned and did not direct occupiers to exit via a safe route; (5) an internal shower room extractor fan was not working and electrical wires were exposed; and (6) the shower and the toilet in the top floor shower room were blocked up due to a failed macerator unit, resulting in foul water filling up both the shower tray and toilet and leaking through to the ceiling below. At Reading Magistrates' Court the agents were fined over £20,000 for failing to properly manage the HMO, comply with health and safety conditions in the HMO Licence, and failing to provide information. The landlord was fined £500 with legal costs of £200 after pleading guilty to failing to provide requested information.

I'm told that most landlords are decent and fair,,,, I do hope I am, I'd be mortified if found otherwise......

theartfullodger

Newham landlord done for over £7k for illegal eviction (and criminal record perhaps??)


http://www.newham.gov.uk/News/2012/August/Landlordstungforillegalevictionoftenant.htm

A landlord in Newham has been convicted of illegally evicting her tenant.

Paulette Narine, (pictured), 49, who was found by magistrates to be living at Maple Road, Penge*, was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay a contribution of £1,500 towards prosecution costs together with a £15 victim surcharge. The District Judge awarded the ex-tenant £540 compensation.

The trial was heard in December 2011 at Stratford Magistrates' Court.

An appeal was heard at Snaresbrook Crown Court last month (10 July). The conviction was upheld. Narine was ordered to pay the authority further costs of £4,319.

Narine was found guilty under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, for illegally evicting her tenant from a three-bedroom house in Grangewood Street, East Ham.

In September 2010, Narine entered the property in the early morning and obtained the key to the property from a child minder who was looking after the unnamed tenant's son, while she was at work.

Newham Council were told and several telephone calls were made to Narine asking her to re-instate the tenant as soon as possible.

The tenant was only allowed back in the house to gather her belongings, the court heard. She was forced to approach Newham Council for emergency temporary accommodation.

Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales said: "We want to ensure that private sector rented properties are well managed and meet a good standard.

"There are good landlords in Newham and we want to work with them. Unfortunately there are also some unscrupulous ones.

"We will never accept private sector tenants being directly exploited by landlords."

tbs624

First ever HMO LL to be struck off LL Register in Edinburgh:

"Yousef Mohammed’s application to operate a House in Multiple Occupation in the city was refused.

In addition, his name was removed from the landlord register when councillors decided he did not meet the fit and proper person criteria"

Source

tbs624

"SWANSEA Council has urged city landlords to maintain their properties or face action after it successfully prosecuted another rogue landlord for renting out an unsatisfactory property.

Christopher Jones is the eighth landlord to be prosecuted in eight months by the Council after he pleaded guilty to a catalogue of health & safety-related breaches at a house in multiple occupation (HMO).
Mr Jones from Bishopston in Swansea pleaded guilty to 11 offences in relation to an eight-bedroom property at 79 Eaton Crescent in Uplands."

Seems a piddling finethough IMO :

"He was fined a total of £750 and ordered to pay £250 costs along with a £15 surcharge."

"the property’s automatic fire detection system was not working. The house was also suffering from damp and plaster was seen coming away from the walls. Garden waste was also piled up in the rear of the property and no safety certificates were available for gas and electricity supplies.


Source

tbs624

"Despite formal requests to undertake improvement work to his property at 12 Roberts Grove, Winthorpe, Emmanuel Robert Nelson, who lives at 1 Church Lane, Winthorpe, failed to make safe electrics that were exposed, leaving tenants, including young children at imminent risk of harm.

Due to the risk caused by the dangerous conditions and the failure of the Landlord to comply with the Notice, the Council carried out Emergency Remedial Action at the address to make the electrics safe. The cost of the work, which was carried out by a Council contractor, will be charged back to the owner"

Fine of £600, plus 1k costs

Source

tbs624

A Rochdale landlord has been fined £10,000 for failing to licence his multi-occupied premises.

Inspectors who visited the property, at 35 Tweedale Street, found a minor living in the attic conversion and discovered that the fire regulations had been breached.


Landlord Mohammed Din, of 10 Chepstow Close, Rochdale, admitted failing to comply with the regulations and claiming a discount for single person occupancy, despite having five tenants, at a hearing at Bury and Rochdale Magistrates Court on 9 August.
He was fined £10,000 which took into account his guilty plea. Costs of £314 were awarded along with a £15 victim surcharge making a total of £10,329.

Source