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Poor property sees landlord fined
Posted by Mark Cunningham
A landlord has been ordered by Weymouth Magistrate's Court to pay over £4,000 in fines and costs after letting a rundown property.
The flat itself was problematic in several areas, including a missing bathroom door and frame, inadequate ventilation in the washroom, a basin not connected to the waste pipe, poor storage provision for food, no windows or ventilation other than the front door and no roof covering in the bedroom and living areas apart from corrugated plastic sheeting, the Dorset Echo reports.
Alistair Gordon's property was declared unsafe for occupation but the real estate investor later moved new tenants in, which led to a penalty of £2,500, a £15 victim surcharge and £1,784.33 in court costs.
A statement issued on his behalf read: "The breach arose from misunderstanding guidelines advised by environmental health officers."
This news follows a study by housing charity Shelter revealing that around one million people in the UK have fallen victim to landlord scams in the last year, such as Let and Run, where a house is broken into and then rented out to unsuspecting tenants.
14/10/2010 14:45
News category: Property