September 22, 2010
A London landlord who let a nine bedroom property to paying tenants has been heavily fined after investigations found he failed to obtain the correct housing licence. Rizwan Ahmed rented out a nine-bedroom property in Fulham but did not have the House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence needed to rent a three-storey property with five or more unrelated tenants, as required by law. Hammersmith amp; Fulham Council then applied to the Residential Property Tribunal (RPT), which ordered Ahmed to pay back 12 months’ housing benefit, just weeks after he was ordered to pay £37,000 in claimed rent from a separate property. The RPT report said the rooms were in an “appalling state” with one bedroom having “little more room than a concrete cell”. Ahmed had also failed to maintain the fire alarms and fire doors, failure to do so is illegal under current housing laws, with the RPT saying that a fire would have spread easily through the building. The landlord was also prosecuted at West London Magistrates Court last month when he was slapped with another £20,000 fine for operating an unlicensed HMO and breaching the regulations. A council spokesman told the Hammersmith and Fulham Chronicle: “Ahmed’s tenants were living in very poor conditions and this should be a warning to all landlords that the council takes HMO licensing and management regulations seriously.” Those hoping to move into rented accommodation must ensure that their landlord meets current housing regulations for the sake of personal safety. Simultaneously, landlords adhere to the letter of the law or face substantial financial penalties as a consequence.