Acton Landlord Fined

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Tenants living in dangerous conditions

A rogue landlord in W3 has been ordered to pay nearly £24,000 after he left his tenants to live in appalling and dangerous conditions.

Officers from the council’s HMO licensing team visited the three storey house divided into seven bedsits on Stuart Road, Acton in August 2012 and found a catalogue of safety hazards.

The only smoke alarm in the building, which was home to up to 12 people at a time, had been dismantled and water was leaking from the first floor bathroom into light fittings and the rooms underneath, making the ceiling unsafe and the electrics dangerous.

Other horrors discovered by council officers included:
* No bannister or handrail on the stairs from the ground to the first floor
* A chest of drawers in the hallway partially blocking the main escape route from the house
* Piles of rubbish in the garden, an open sack of rubbish in a shared bathroom
* The front door secured with a loosely attached board, covering a smashed glass panel
* Dirty bathroom and kitchen facilities, including mouldy and defective seals on a bath and shower.

Homes with unrelated tenants sharing communal facilities must be registered as HMOs or homes in multiple occupation to ensure they meet safety and quality standards. Despite this, the property where tenants paid a combined total of around £3,000 per month in rent was not registered as an HMO.

Mr Antonio Ioviera, of Birkbeck Avenue, Acton appeared before Ealing Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 3 October where he was found guilty of 13 offences including being responsible for an unlicensed house in multiple occupancy (HMO).

Ioviera was ordered to pay £18,150 in fines, £5,510.01 to cover the council’s cost for the case and a £120 victim charge, making a total of £23,780.01. Ioviera was ordered to pay the fines within one month.

Councillor Hitesh Tailor, cabinet member for housing, skills and employment said: “The shocking conditions in this house could have put lives at risk, especially if a fire had broken out. This case should act as a warning to slum landlords, who are perfectly happy to reap the rewards of letting tenants live in these dangerous, disgusting conditions with no care for their safety. There is no place in this borough for landlords like this man; we will continue to take tough action to help drive up the quality of private accommodation and root out criminal landlords”

Ealing Council is supporting the housing and homelessness charity Shelter’s national Evict Rogue Landlords campaign to take tough action against rogue landlords.

Any resident with concerns about a landlord operating in Ealing should contact Ealing Council’s HMO licensing team on 020 8825 6622 or email:privatehousing@ealing.gov.uk

 

9th October 2013