Landlord Licensing & Defence BLOG
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Court Fines, Civil Penalties and News
Civil Penalty Notice and hefty fine for HMO landlord without licence
12 Oct 2021 A landlord has been fined over £7,000 for letting out an unsafe and unlicensed HMO. South Gloucestershire council’s private sector housing team issued the landlord a Civil Penalty Notice after a number of offences were identified at a three-storey...
Lettings agent jailed after £182,000 fraud
20 Sep 2021 A lettings agent has been jailed for three years for defrauding tenants and landlords out of more than £182,000. Lee Clarke, 42, of Park Corner, Windsor, was director of Berkshire Estate Agents in Slough. He disappeared in 2019 after being...
District planning authorities in England issue fewest number of enforcement notices since records began
06 Sep 2021 Finally some good news for landlords and property developers! District planning authorities in England issue fewest number of enforcement notices since records began District planning authorities in England issued fewer than...
Will Government make Rogue Landlord Database public? Decision awaited
11 Aug 2021 There has still been no formal response to a government consultation on the database of rogue agents and landlords, 25 months after comments were initially requested and 22 months after the exercise closed. The database of rogue landlords and property...
Edinburgh to require Planning Permission for all short term lets! Is this the end of SA?
11 Aug 2021 A consultation is to begin next month regarding the designation of an entire city as a Short Term Let Control Area. If Edinburgh council eventually gives the go ahead - and if the concept is approved by the Scottish Government - the new powers would mean...
London Borough of Camden secures ASBO injunction & exclusion zone against landlord
30 Jul 2021 Camden council in north London has become the first local authority to secure an anti-social behaviour injunction against a landlord in order to protect private tenants from illegal eviction and harassment. The council secured the injunction against...
BREAKING NEWS: Change to which Landlords can receive Rent Repayment Order.
Rakusen v Jepson and others appeal upheld and Upper Tribunal Decision Overturned. In what is the most important news for Landlords who find their property has been sublet unknowingly in Rent to Rent Residential to HMO situations. the Rent to Rent company will be held...
Landlord in court because buy to let was unclean and unsafe
23 Jul 2021 A landlord who failed to ensure his property was clean and safe for tenants to live in has been prosecuted by a council. An environmental health officer from Oldham council first visited a private rented property in the town in September last year...
Nowhere for HMO landlords to hide as Councils turn to Artificial Intelligence
21 Jul 2021 How long does it take for your Council to work out you’re running an unlicensed HMO? Less than one day! This was confirmed for us this week when a worried landlord got in touch with our landlords defence consultancy team. Here’s the situation: Landlord...
Suspended sentence for Fire Risk Assessor and warning to Landlords
02 Jul 2021 A fire risk assessor who provided an inadequate assessment for a residential block in Southampton has been fined and given a suspended prison sentence, following a prosecution brought by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service. Commented Phil...
Conviction of rogue landlord upheld
01 Jul 2021 The conviction of a rogue Dudley landlord who failed to rectify safety hazards in a property he let has been upheld. In November 2019 Latif Rehman, of Bank Street, Brierley Hill was fined a total of £151,070 by Wolverhampton Magistrates Court for three...
Landlord in hot water after ignoring council abatement notice
28 Jun 2021 A tenant was put at risk from a ceiling that partially collapsed and was left unable to use her shower after her landlords failed to adequately repair a leak. Sunita and Surinder Paul have each been fined £500 for breaching a Wolverhampton council...
Judge tears into Northampton Council’s Samantha Ling and her department
14 Jun 2021 In a shocking, and embarrassing for Northampton Borough Council (NBC), determination by Judge Wayte of the First Tier Tribunal property, he went so far as to suggest that the landlord should make a claim for costs against the Council. A move...
Yet another landlord fined massively for unlicensed property
11 Jun 2021 A London council has prosecuted a landlord for renting out an unauthorised and unsafe House in Multiple Occupation. Daniella Mbachu, who owns property in Mitcham, was found guilty of failing to apply for an HMO licence from Merton council, and failure to...
Council announces free property licensing!
10 Jun 2021 Instead of charging landlords around £1,000 like most UK councils - for the dubious honour of going into a database - which the council will then use so they can easily inspect properties and issue eye watering fines, Jersey (which is of course part of the...
HMO deemed dirty & unsafe. Lettings firm fined £21,000
09 Jun 2021 A council investigation found no fire alarms, routes of escape blocked, and a broken window covered with a 'to let' sign A Manchester letting and management company has been fined more than £21,000 after one of their properties was found to have multiple...
One in the eye for council ‘Anti-Planning’ departments as 40% increase in approvals needed if housing targets to ever be met
09 Jun 2021 Planning permissions must rise by 40% if the government is to meet its target of building 300,000 homes by the mid-2020s, a report has said.Research produced by planning consultancy Lichfields and commissioned by the Land Promoters and...
Banned: Rogue agency and director cannot let any property in England
28 May 2021 A London council has secured banning orders against rogue property agents who were previously fined over £70,000 for letting an unlicensed and unsafe home. Simple Properties Management Ltd and the company’s director, Miguel Cabeo Cespedes, were given...
Landlord gets £2,249 fine and criminal record for illegal eviction
18 May 2021 Landlord Antanas Klibavicius has pleaded guilty to illegally evicting his tenant and not taking any steps towards ending the tenancy properly and legally. Klibavicius, from Sheffield, pleaded guilty to unlawfully depriving his tenant of accommodation...
Landlord hit with curfew, and compensation bill after unlawful eviction
07 May 2021 A landlord has been placed under an overnight curfew in her home and ordered to pay just under £7,000 in compensation and costs after pleading guilty to unlawfully evicting her lodger, in a case brought by Bristol City...
Agents & Landlords urged to beware council crackdown and heavy fines
07 May 2021 A crackdown is now underway withTrading Standards divisions now taking an even stricter approach to enforcement of compliance obligations. This is yet another assault on the wallets of letting agents and landlords in addition to ever increasing compliance...
Landlord Wins £15k Compensation Against Council
07 May 2021 In what was only a hollow victory for the owner, the almost toothless Local Government Ombudsman has given Worcester City Council only a small slap on the wrist for giving a landlord false information as part of his Pre Application planning advice which...
£10k fine and Criminal Behaviour Order for illegal eviction by Agent
30 Apr 2021 A lettings agency director has been issued with a Criminal Behaviour Order for unlawfully evicting a tenant back in 2019. CFDP Ltd, trading as Belvoir Nuneaton and Hinckley, along with its director Clayton Foston, have been taken to court by...
HMO Landlord ordered to hand over 18 HMOs to Managing Agent & fined £30,000
26 Apr 2021 A landlord has been handed nearly £30,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to maintenance and safety failures at three properties. Landlord Naomi Knapp, of Bedminster in Bristol, agreed to pay £2,000 a month for at least the next year to meet the...
Tenants suffer fire, but council only interested in prosecution for lack of HMO licence
23 Apr 2021 Following a rental property fire in a house in Hendon, all the council appeared to be interested in was that it had discovered an unlicensed HMO and proceeded to prosecute the landlord “for failing to licence the HMO”. According to the council’s press...
Landlord fined £6,000 after rat droppings and disrepair
22 Apr 2021 A landlord has been fined £6,000 for failing to properly maintain a HMO in Reading. Nidan Singh, 76, has also been ordered to pay council costs of £1,956 and a victim surcharge of £181. Council officers inspected the property twice in 2019 and...
£50,000 fines for Landlord and his company
19 Apr 2021 A property company and its sole director landlord have been convicted and ordered to pay more than £50,000 in fines and legal costs. Francis Investments (East Anglia) Limited, based in Ipswich, and the company’s sole director and owner of the property,...
Landlords fined over £60,000 over 7 bed HMO
19 Apr 2021 Two landlords of a property in East London have been ordered to pay costs and fines totalling £61,057.05 after they were prosecuted for multiple housing offences. John Renvoize and Dedar Shah owners of a seven bed property in Dagenham were ordered to...
Landlord gets £90,000 Fines for Inadequate Fire Precautions at 2 properties
14 Apr 2021 A landlord and a property company have a total of over £90,000 to pay after being found guilty of 27 charges relating to two properties in Hertfordshire. Landlord Faraz Bucha and the property management firm Captain Solutions were each found guilty of 27...
Another Planning Game Changer
12 Apr 2021 Guest post by our Planning Expert Colin Smith Another game changer for your development strategy.... Councils must support unplanned sites to deliver homes for first-time buyers, says government on 6 April 2021 according to Ellie Kahn and Richard Garlick....
Councils using ‘Intelligence” to track down rental properties with low EPCs – £5,000 fines
29 Mar 2021 And so the EPC witch-hunt begins…. Threatening fines of up to £5,000 for any rental property with an EPC lower than Band E, councils are now using artificial intelligence to pull together all manner of records and information to cross-correlate properties...
Fines for Fire Safety breaches Will Become Unlimited says Home Office
25 Mar 2021 Building owners who breach fire safety regulations under the Fire Safety Order will be subject to unlimited fines, the Home Office has announced. The measures come as part of the government’s response to the Fire Safety Consultation and will be included in...
Battle of Hastings: Upper Tribunal Decision underlines end of Magic Money Tree for Rogue Tenants and their No Win/NoFee allies
17 Mar 2021 In a landmark decision, the Upper Tribunal (Lands) has confirmed that the judgement of the First Tier Tribunal that “Rent Arrears must be accounted for BEFORE rent is eligible to be reclaimed under a Rent Repayment Order (RRO).” This Judgement of the...
Landlord gets £200k fine for planning offence, proceeds of crime and confiscation order
11 Mar 2021 A landlord who illegally turned a London property into 13 flats has been hit by nearly £200,000 in fines, costs and a confiscation order. Inanc Elitok pleaded guilty to ignoring two previous notices at a hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court, in a case...
Sefton Council entraps Hotel Landlord into providing Free Emergency Accommodation to their Homeless
08 Mar 2021 Sefton council has reached a new low in cynical entrapment in its relentless war against landlords. Like many councils waging war against landlords, they do this in the single-minded pursuit of raising revenue from Landlords’ investments and pensions. So...
Councils teaching tenants how to reclaim rent from landlords
03 Mar 2021 A London council is running what it describes as “an innovative project” to help private tenants reclaim rent from landlords who fall foul of licensing rules. London Borough of Tower Hamlets council claims that over £200,000 has been reclaimed for...
£740k confiscation order against landlord over planning enforcement
01 Mar 2021 The legal team at Brent Council has secured a confiscation order worth nearly £740,000 against a landlord who rented out properties in Willesden in breach of planning enforcement notices. The council said it believed the order against Mohammed Mehdi Ali of...
How permitted development homes will be changed by the new space standards
01 Mar 2021 Guest post by Joey Gardener New rules will stop developers squeezing tiny homes into small buildings through permitted development, but will space standards resolve quality and location concerns? Housing campaigners secured a significant victory in...
Own goal! Failure to licence HMO cost ex-footballer £34,000
23 Feb 2021 A landlord who failed to licence his properties has been ordered to pay back over £8,000 in rent. Dexter Blackstock, a former professional footballer, has been told he has to refund £8,592.98 in housing benefit that he was paid for two unlicensed...
Jail threat and £140k fines after council probes HMO with illegal extensions
23 Feb 2021 A landlord who built unlawful extensions to a family home and squeezed up to 14 people into the rooms has forfeited the rent he was paid in a planning enforcement prosecution. Jagtar Phagura created five bedrooms in extensions built without planning...
It’s Rubbish being a Landlord: 40 Landlords Prosecuted by One Council for Tenants’ Mess
18 Feb 2021 A landlord’s firm has been fined after waste accumulated in the rear yard of a tenanted property. Elahi Properties of Blackburn was ordered to pay £1,259 by a court, comprised of a £750 court fine and £500 costs. The firm was summonsed to appear in court...
£22,000 landlord fine for inadequate fire precautions and poor maintenance
15 Feb 2021 Two landlords who let an unlicensed London HMO property without providing proper washing facilities or tackling serious fire hazards have been taken to court. The pair were fined over £22,000 after letting out a property in Hackney without proper...
Portsmouth lettings agency Kings Estates and Southsea landlord fined £18,000 for unlicensed 12-bed student house
11 Feb 2021 A LETTINGS agency has been fined £12,000 after council officers found 11 students living in a ‘high risk’ unlicensed converted pub. Portsmouth letting firm Kings Estates was initially handed a £6,000 fine by Portsmouth City Council after a tenant blew the...
Rogue Birmingham landlord endangering lives successfully prosecuted
George Lindsay, 55, from Erdington, has been successfully prosecuted and ordered to pay close to £20,000 for breaching housing regulations. The rogue landlord pleaded guilty for failing to obtain a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence and to 13 breaches of HMO...
Court of Appeal upholds £99k penalties for breaches of HMO regulations and non-compliance with enforcement notices
05 Feb 2021 The Court of Appeal has rejected a company director's appeal over penalties amounting to £99,000 imposed by the Upper Tribunal for breaches of regulations covering houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), and non-compliance with enforcement notices. The...
Capitol Riot Suspects Self-Incriminate Just Like Landlords Do Every Day
19 Jan 2021 Capitol riot suspect Aaron Mostofsky (Source: New York Post, as cited in criminal complaint) Many of the insurrectionists who marched on the UA Capitol building on Jan. 6 and violently forced their way into the building stupidly livestreamed...
Landlord get £13,850 in fines for no HMO licence
19 Jan 2021 A landlord has been fined £10,000 by her local council for failing to licence a HMO. Tracey Davies of Bath was found guilty in her absence when the case came before magistrates in the city. The local authority - which says it was “acting on information...
Five Tenant Tricks to throw out a Section 21 eviction notice
19 Jan 2021 Landlords need to be in no doubt that tenants are being educed by councils, shelter, a wide range of no-win, no-fee ambulance chasers- and now tenants unions too - into not only the ‘tricks and hacks’ they can use to stop you being able to gain...
£66,000 fine for landlord letting out HMO with safety failings
15 Jan 2021 A landlord has been hit with what a local authority calls a record £66,000 fine after being found guilty of letting an HMO that was dangerous to tenants. Reading council prosecuted Mohammed Naseer Zamir, following its housing team’s findings at the...
Reading Borough Council fine landlord £66k for failing to meet fire safety requirements
13 Jan 2021 A LANDLORD has been slapped with a £66,000 fine over 'serious' safety breaches including plug sockets next to the shower, and repairs that risked residents being trapped in a fire. In a record attempt by Reading Borough Council (RBC) to clamp down on...
Landlord’s excuse for operating Unlicensed HMO not a ‘Reasonable Excuse’ finds Appeal to Upper Tribunal
05 Jan 2021 Thurrock Council has won an appeal from a decision of the First-tier Tribunal to cancel a civil penalty imposed for the offence of managing or being in control of a house in multiple occupation that is required by the Housing Act 2004 to be licensed, when...
The true Cost of Unlicensed HMOs
30 Jan 2020 A landlord in bath was fined £10,000 plus £4,000 costs and given a criminal record in Bath this month for not licensing her HMO. We see cases of this every week and the "going rate" is around £12,000 for not licensing an HMO. But that is only the...
£600,000 fine for damage to bat breeding site
22 Dec 2020 A major house builder has been ordered to pay what is understood to be the largest fine ever issued by a court in relation to a wildlife crime. On 8 December at Woolwich Crown Court, Bellway Homes pleaded guilty to the offence between 17 March 2018 and 17...
Yet another landlord gets £14,000 fine for not having HMO licence
17 Dec 2020 A landlord has been fined £10,000 by her local council for failing to licence a HMO. Tracey Davies of Bath was found guilty in her absence when the case came before magistrates in the city. The local authority - which says it was “acting on information...
Liverpool tries again to implement selective licensing tax
15 Dec 2020 In a cynical attempt to hide their revenue creation motive by stating: “The council makes no profit from the scheme. Every single pound we get from landlords would be ring-fenced, paying for our team [of enforcement officers] to be out on the streets...
Landlord denied licences despite past conviction being ‘spent’
10 Dec 2020 A London council has confirmed its right to refuse licenses to criminal landlords - even reformed ones. A story in the East London Guardian says Nasim Hussain and her daughter Farina took the Waltham Forest council to court after the family’s licences for...
Huge fine for HMO owner after refusal of planning consent
09 Dec 2020 A long-running case about a house divided up and let out without planning permission has resulted in a fine of nearly £10,000 for the owner. Brighton & Hove council investigated the property back in July 2018. The owner, Shirley White, had divided...
Tribunal upholds civil penalty notice and £8,852 fine on landlord
20 Nov 2020 A £4,550 fine, one of several imposed by the council, has been upheld after an appeal by the landlord was rejected by a property tribunal. Fenland council served five civil penalty notices on the landlord totalling £8852 earlier this year for failing...
Success! We bat 5 over zealous council court summonses into the long grass – defending older landlord
20 Nov 2020 A LONG READ – Well Worth it. Especially if you were born between 1950 and 1980 and, you are a LANDLORD. A client Of Landlord Licensing & Defence who has lived in abject terror for months due to bullying and ridiculous Local Council action had a Happy...
Council to crack down on Dorset Landlords in Dorset
04 Nov 2020 PRIVATE landlords who fail to stick to regulations and treat tenants unfairly can expect a tougher approach from Dorset Council. Senior council officers told a committee this week that they now had the backing, and funding, to adopt a tougher stance where...
