A property company has been fined more than £2,000 for renting out a home with a long list of healthy and safety breaches.
North Warwickshire Borough Council brought a prosecution against Berrywell Properties Ltd over its failure to carry out essential repairs and maintenance to a private rented house in Hurley.
The council had served an Improvement Notice on the company, asking for various risks to be remedied relating to fire, electricity, cold, and hygiene.
Berrywell admitted its guilt and was fined £2,000, with a £250 contribution towards prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Cllr Kath Johnston, responsible for housing at the borough council, said: “This action shows the seriousness with which the council views landlords’ duties to the safety of their tenants, and that we have and will again take positive action in similar circumstances.
“Prosecutions like this are rare but landlords must recognise they cannot cut corners and risk the health of their tenants.
“There is a legal minimum standard for housing and we have the tools to impose solutions where necessary. Let this be fair warning to others.”
The council is also reminding landlords that financial help is available for properties with tenants on low income benefits, via its Warm Front scheme.
Landlords whose houses are not well insulated or heated can call 0800 316 2805 and get their property improved at little or no cost and make the home more affordable to heat for the tenant.
• A tenant who claimed he was fed up with the state of his rented accommodation sent text messages about the recent Cumbria shootings to his landlord.
A court heard David Stewart Bear referred to taxi driver Derrick Bird, a gun and choosing selected targets who weren’t ‘innocent’ to die, in four messages on June 15.
Burnley magistrates heard the rental property he occupied in Nelson, Lancashire suffered from damp and that, when it rained, water ran down the walls, the wiring was unsafe and the pointing was also not safe.
Bear admitted sending by the public communication network an offensive or threatening message. He was bailed until July 5 for a pre-sentence report.
