News from Peterborough City Council

A landlord, who failed to provide Peterborough City Council with information relating to a property he was renting, was fined £2,000 by Peterborough Magistrates today (Thursday 27 March).

 

Officers from the private sector enforcement team at the city council visited 88 Russell Street, in Peterborough, following several complaints and quickly established it was a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO).

 

Under national definitions an HMO needs to be licensed if the house is three or more storeys high and is occupied by five or more people forming three or more households. However, the city council operates a stronger licensing definition based on its own pre-existing criteria.

 

Under the city council criteria an HMO is defined as any house occupied by three or more people who form two or more households. This means that a three-bedroom house divided into separate rooms for three unrelated tenants, or a couple and one other unrelated tenant, would need to be licensed.

 

The landlord Marek Cap was served in October 2007 with a legal notice requesting information relevant to the property but failed to reply. A subsequent reminder also went unanswered. As a result, the matter was referred to Peterborough Magistrates' Court with Cap facing a charge of failing to provide the city council with information under section 236 of the Housing Act 2004.

 

Cap failed to attend court or enter a plea and was fined £2,000 in his absence. He was also ordered to pay costs of £445.32 and a victim surcharge of £15.

 

"I am delighted the courts have backed the actions of our enforcement officers," said enforcement team leader Paul Kerr. "We hope this will act as a warning to other landlords where houses with multiple tenants must conform to conditions governing things such as fire safety, the level of bathroom and kitchen facilities, and a range of management standards. 

 

"It is equally important that the enforcement officers are provided with information when they request it so they can make fully informed decisions regarding the properties they are dealing with.

 

"If tenants do not receive the correct level of care and protection they are being exploited and their lives and health could be at risk. Magistrates here have demonstrated the seriousness of the situation by imposing a heavy fine. Guilty landlords are also running the risk of being barred from holding a licence in future because licences are only granted to 'fit and proper' persons."

 

Councillor John Holdich, Cabinet member for Housing, Regeneration and Economic Development at the city council, added: "I must congratulate our team on their swift action in dealing with this particular problem. Unchecked HMOs can result in people living in terrible conditions which cannot be right in this day and age, as well as causing problems for people living nearby. We will continue to crackdown on any unscrupulous landlords."

 

For more information about the rules on houses in multiple occupation, call the city council's private sector housing enforcement team on (01733) 747474.