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Landlord fined £29k for putting tenants’ lives ‘at risk’

Dangerous electrical mains installation, ‘defective’ sanitary fitments in both the bathroom and kitchen, and a ‘lack of automatic fire detection’, were among just some of the issues uncovered during an inspection of a rental home in Derby that led to the property’s owner being fined just over £29,000.

Buy-to-let landlord Adrian Ernest Dart was described by the prosecution as an ‘absentee landlord’, after an inspection in September 2016 by Derby City Council’s housing standards team found that his property in the city had ‘serious defects’ that put tenants’ lives ‘at risk’.

The council’s housing standards team said that the Normanton house was in the kind of disrepair that would allow fire to spread quickly.

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Derby Telegraph report that other dangers identified by inspectors included trip hazards, mould and the potential for structural collapse.

The house was said to be in ‘such a state of disrepair’ that the council ‘felt it necessary to carry out urgent repairs’. An improvement notice was issued ‘but not acknowledged’, with the council spending £8,030 on remedial work that ‘remains as a charge on the property until the debt is paid in full’.

At Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court, Dart pleaded guilty to a charge of non compliance with an improvement notice, served under the Housing Act 2004, and was fined £6,500.

Additionally, he was ordered to make a contribution of £2,436 to the council’s prosecution costs, and to pay a victim surcharge of £170, and ‘due to the seriousness of the case’ alongside his ‘lack of engagement’ with the council’s team, an additional fine of £20,000 was added, for a total of £29,106.

This meant that his fine was the ‘largest fine ever given out for a housing offence in Derby’, with the city council aiming for this to ‘act as a warning to other landlords’.

Cllr Fareed Hussain, cabinet member for housing and urban renewal, commented: “The council’s housing standards team is dedicated to improving living standards for private tenants in Derby and ensuring their safety and well-being is a top priority.

“We are pleased to have achieve this result and hope it serves as a reminder to all landlords to provide suitable accommodation for their tenants.”

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