In what has been described as a first by the Daily Mail, one private landlord has the unfortunate notoriety of being handed a property rental ASBO (along with a massive fine and court costs).
Plymouth Council has prosecuted the landlord, who has been in the property rental business for more than thirty years, for repeated breaches of housing regulations and failing to clean up.
Two of the properties had been divided into six bedsits and were let to vulnerable tenants claiming housing benefit, many of whom had serious problems such as alcoholism. Representatives from the council say they did try and work with the landlord, but despite their efforts, he refused to comply with the improvement notices he received and do any of the necessary work.
What kind of condition are the properties in?
The pictures of these properties have to be seen to be believed. In fact they make my old student houses look positively hygienic by comparison. Rotten flooring, bare wiring, rubbish strewn rooms, filthy carpets, disgusting bathrooms and kitchens, mouse droppings everywhere—basically not the kind of homes that are fit for human habitation.
Why was an ASBO handed out?
Plymouth Council felt that a £28,000 fine was not enough to make this slum landlord see the error of his ways, so it took steps, in the form of an ASBO application, to try and prevent him from being able to let rooms in his properties to any more vulnerable people claiming benefits. Let’s hope it works!
