A landlord who failed to ensure a wholesome supply of water to his property pleaded guilty to failing to comply with an Emergency Prohibition Order (EPO) pursuant to Section 43 of the Housing Act 2004 when he appeared before Holyhead Magistrates Court recently.

The Isle of Anglesey County Council served an EPO on Barry Lloyd in May 2007 for the offence at his property at Tyn Coed Farm, Talwrn Road, Llangefni. As the landlord and owner, he was responsible for the House in Multiple Occupation (HMO).

The EPO was served after Environmental Health Officers discovered that tenants living at the premises had no water supply. A further inspection in December 2007 found that this had still not been rectified by Lloyd.

It was only in January 2008 that Lloyd finally arranged for water to be connected to the property via a borehole supply. Unfortunately the water quality was unacceptable as it was found to contain high levels of bacteria and chemicals. 

The EPO was still in force at the time of the recent court case and will remain until the bacteriological and chemical levels are deemed to be satisfactory.

The Court took into account Lloyd's recent poor health, previous good character and awarded him credit of his early guilty plea.

Magistrates, however, took the view that there was a public duty to find for the offences and imposed a fine of £400 with an order for prosecution costs of £150 and a victim surcharge of £15 giving a total fine of £565.

In addition the Court ordered that a further daily penalty of £5 per day would be levied until such times as the water quality at the property met the required standards.

An Isle of Anglesey County Council spokesperson explained: “The lack of a clean water supply obviously still poses a significant threat to the healthy of these tenants. We had no option but to impose an EPO and the landlord has been fined for not acting promptly to rectify this matter.”