Last year Salford City Council became the first local authority to introduce a selective licensing scheme. This covered its Seedley and Langworthy regeneration area.

Now the Council believes it has become the first to prosecute a landlord for failing to obtain a licence required under a special scheme.

Bolton landlord Mohammed Ashraf was fined £2,500 for the failure. In total Salford Magistrates ordered that he pay £6,895 including costs and a further £1,500 for failing to comply with two improvement orders.  He is also to be pursued for £13,000 which the Council spent putting his property back in order.

Housing officers had served improvement orders in September 2007 after finding damp, broken lighting, leaking windows, a broken toilet and broken boiler among the faults at the property. As Ashraf failed to undertake any of the work, the council stepped in and arranged for the repairs to be undertaken.

"We endeavour to work with and assist landlords to run their businesses in an effective fashion and we are doing everything in our power to raise standards in the private rented sector both for the benefit of tenants and the wider community”, commented Salford councillor Peter Connor, who is lead member for housing:.

• Another Bolton landlord has also been fined by Salford Magistrates, this time for failing to obtain mandatory licence for his house in multiple occupation.

Shahid Ali was fined £500 and ordered to pay costs of £215 and will now have a criminal record.

Since July 2006 it has been compulsory for landlords of larger HMOs to licence their properties.

Landlords can be fined up to £20,000 for failure to obtain a mandaotory licence.

Ali had also been ordered to carry out improvements to his property after it was discovered five tenants had been living there without the protection of fire alarms, without adequate heating but with water leaks and electrical problems.