A private landlord has been prosecuted for failing to carry out works to make his rented property safe .
David Almond of York was ordered to pay £878 in fines and court costs after being found guilty of failing to comply with an Improvement Notice served under The Housing Act 2004, in October 2022 in relation to a house he rented out to tenants in Darlington.
Almond had pleaded not guilty when he appeared at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court this week but was found guilty following a trial.
The court heard that private sector housing officers from Darlington council had carried out an inspection of the property and the Improvement Notice was served requiring him to carry out various works to make it safe and secure.
It included carrying out basic duties as a landlord such as providing gas and electricity safety certificates, ensuring the property had adequate heating and was free from damp and mould. Other issues were also identified such as asbestos ceiling tiles and a poorly constructed staircase.
The court heard Almond had delayed carrying out any work after the issues had been raised by officers and only started work once a prosecution case was brought.
The four tenants were left living in a property with water leaking from the roof for more than a year, and although they had now found a new home, work was still required to be finished at the Park Lane property before any new tenancy could begin.
Almond was fined £270 and ordered to pay £500 costs and a £108 victim surcharge.
Councillor Amanda Riley, the council’s cabinet member for stronger communities, says: “The owner of this property failed to maintain and keep it in a good state of repair, which could have resulted in the tenants sustaining serious injuries and ill health. This case sends a clear message that we will take action against any landlord who does not ensure the safety of their tenants.”
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Fined £878 - thats a huge deterrent. This type of Landlord is the type that we dont want in the industry. Penalise the bad/rogue landlords heavily so that it is not a costs
A low fine, probably because he did start the work. The lesson here is NEVER ignore an improvement notice.
We certainly don’t need Landlords like this, spoiling it for decent Landlords.
Almond sounds a bit of a nut!
Hmmm a polite word for him.
Sadly landlords like this give the rest of us a bad name and ammunition for Generation Rant.
You don’t see articles written about kind and caring landlords and there are some.
But in fairness it would seem he was making an effort to carry out the repairs, if a bit slow in doing so, once again I suspect only half a story here
Ridiculously low fine, council could’ve issued a civil financial penalty instead. I hope the affected tenants applied for a rent repayment order, the sums involved there are a more realistic deterrent. The courts are stuck with sentencing guidelines and have to base fines on the defendant’s income, so the defendant arranges their finances to have very little income in time for the sentencing hearing and gets a seriously low penalty.
I feel that some landlords are really bad, but then tenants are just as bad by not ventilating the property and causing mould
Seems a small fine really considering in general I have to pay £1600. License Applications fee which is roughly equivalent to his fine and we have to have all the safety Certificates as well and fire risk assessment on top, a bit like we are paying double his fine repeatedly as I had to license each one 4 times.
However to be fair I understand he had the gas certificate but wasn’t presented to Tenants prior to signing the Tenancy which used not be the case. Its more regulation nonsense either you have it or not.
The other point is why do landlords buy property far away
60 miles from York to Darlington if that’s what I am reading. I like to have them less than 10 miles away so if there’s a problem it’s with-reach and you can deal with it. I have seen loads of landlords buying hundreds of miles away at auction, they were getting away with renting them out, those property usually needed improvement which is why they were in the Auction. Who did they think was going to do the work ?.
Agreed mine are all within a 1 hour drive from home
And in London with all the obstructions humps and restrictions it would take you an hour to do ten miles. Even if there was no traffic, traffic lights or roundabout, we are have 20 mph limit.
Yes could be true Andrew-( 2 sides). But if true the fine considering all councils are cash strapped surprised it’s not much higher.
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