Today has seen reports of two more rogues in the buy-to-let sector brought to justice.
Firstly, a letting agent from Oxfordshire was ordered to pay £3,500 alongside costs of £2,700 for letting a HMO in excess of licensed number of people that it was able to hold. In addition, the property was in serious disrepair.
Failings
Mr Carl Afialka, of Bicester, runs Christopher Stanley Letting Agents and manages a HMO in Oxford, which council officers found to be in breach of housing lows.
When officers inspected the property, which was licensed for five people, they were alarmed to found 11 inhabitants. These included a family with two young children living in one room!
In addition, the officers found that a number of HMO licence conditions had not been met. The bathroom had serious damp problems, which in turned led to a build up of mould that couldn’t be cleaned. What’s more, the window frames of the property were rotten, the back door was insecure and the garden was littered with rubbish.
After initially pleading not guilty to the charges at an earlier hearing, Mr Afilaka failed to attend his second hearing earlier this month. As a result, magistrates chose to proceed with the case and he was subsequently found guilty.
Rogue landlord and letting agent prosecuted
Hefty punishment
Meanwhile, a landlord from East London was ordered to pay a whopping £100,000 after developing illegal flats at her property.
At her hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Jaghtar Khaira of Elm Park was told to pay £88,500 after failings under the Proceeds of Crime Act. In addition, she was fined £2,500 for a second offence of failing to comply with an Enforcement Notice and an additional £10,300 in prosecution costs.
Khaira was granted planning permission to construct two flats at her property, but decided to develop four units for rent. This in turn resulted in a Planning Enforcement Notice being issued in 2011. As a result, Khaira was prosecuted and fined at Romford Magistrates Court in 2013. Despite this, she continued to rent out the two extra flats.
After the second prosecution, which resulted in a fine of £101,300, Mr Patrick Keyes, head of regulatory services at Havering Council said:
‘Throughout this investigation we have advised Mrs Khaira how she should comply but she continued to breach the Enforcement Notices and prosecution become the Councils only option.’[1]
[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/5/landlord-hit-with-100k-fine-for-building-illegal