Rugby Magistrates Court has fined a private landlord £10,000 after Environmental Health Officers discovered very poor living conditions and very poor management practices at a significant number of her properties.
Rugby Borough Council brought the prosecution against Gillian Woods, of Dunchurch Road, Rugby, who owns a large portfolio of properties in the area.
Magistrates heard how Woods failed to licence a licensable House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) at one property. She was in breach of the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation Regulations together with failure to comply with an Improvement Notice at another property where there was a significant gas leak, and failed to comply with an Improvement Notice at the third property.
Woods failed to turn up to the court hearing and was found guilty in her absence of all four offences, under the Housing Act 2004 and the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 on 12 May. She was fined £10,000 and also ordered to pay the council's costs of £945.75.
Cllr Leigh Hunt, Sustainable and Inclusive Communities Portfolio Holder said: “This is an example of an unscrupulous landlord that gives the majority of good and responsible landlords a bad name and damages the reputation of private landlords. “Most private landlords provide good quality of accommodation but there are some properties where standards are not at an acceptable level and we are working with them to ensure that improvements are made.
“To ensure that the health and safety of tenants throughout the borough is not put at risk, we intend to follow up other cases where landlords have failed in their duty to provide a decent level of accommodation.
“This type of behaviour will not be tolerated, and very robust and rigorous application of the law is necessary to raise housing standards and to protect the health and safety of tenants.”
The council is looking to proactively work with landlords to improve conditions within the private rented sector to avoid having to take enforcement action and encourages landlords to contact the Council for advice on standards for rented accommodation.
