A Landlord who failed to keep her property up to a safe standard was ordered to pay more than £5,000 in fines and costs at Preston magistrates’ court recently.

Elizabeth Jones of the Boulevard, Preston was ordered to pay a £1,500 fine together with costs of £3,500 and £15 victim’s surcharge.

This action was taken after Jones failed to comply with an improvement notice ordering her to address several problems at 22 Latham St, Preston which she rented out as a house in multiple occupation (HMO).

The notice was issued by Preston City Council after complaints about the standard of the property. On inspecting the property, a council officer identified a number of problems including:

Loose and rattling single-glazed windows which were causing bad draughts;

Holes through the outside walls which were causing heat to escape from the house;

Poor heat insulation;

Problems with the kitchen including lack of proper food preparation surfaces and rusty plug sockets;

Holes where mice could enter the property causing food safety issues;

Miss Jones was taken to court as she did not address problems with the single glazed windows and failed to replace them with double glazed ones in the time specified on the improvement notice.

Preston City Councillor Neil Cartwright, cabinet member for development said: “It’s vital that local landlords do all they can to ensure rented housing is kept to a clean and safe standard.

“We hold regular landlords forum meetings, run an accredited landlord’s scheme, offer advice and can give grants for landlords to help them maintain their properties and ensure they are up to a good standard.

“Most landlords do listen to our advice and keep their properties in good order. However, if landlords don’t follow our guidelines, we will issue improvement notices and take court action when necessary.”

Ian Smith, assistant director of development responsible for strategic housing, added: “We’re here to help and will always do our best to give landlords advice they need to keep their properties up to standard. However, this case highlights that we will take action against landlords who won’t cooperate.

“We won’t hesitate to take action like this to enforce proper standards when necessary.”

The end of terrace property was let by the room at the time the alleged offence took place. In total, it contains six potential letting rooms.

Although Preston City Council no longer owns any housing stock, it is responsible for ensuring that rented accommodation across the city is kept to a high standard.