A Cricklewood landlord who ignored his tenant's pleas to make vital renovations to his rental property has been fiend £18,000 at Willesden Magistrate's Court.
Paul Fenton, who lives in the Hertfordshire village of Radlett, pleaded guilty to offences under the Housing Act 2006, having failed to explain how the flat that he was letting for £1,000 per month had fallen into such a bad state.
The property, which is on Walm Lane, had a dilapidated, leaking boiler and a rotting front door and such severe damp and mould growth throughout that the Chair of Magistrates said it was not fit to live in.
The flat’s tenant approached Brent Council to complain about its condition in 2015, and when enforcement officers inspected the flat in August 2015 they found a host of deficiencies and hazards.
Fenton was then issued with a formal demand from the council which required him to repair the damage within 56 days, but when council officers returned to the flat in both January and May of this year, the repairs had not been done.
Fenton, who has owned the flat since 1990, claimed that he had not been inside it for years and assumed the tenants were happy with its condition as they had not asked him for help with repairs.
He went on to say that he assumed that the cheap rent and the fact that he had allowed the tenants to break their tenancy agreement by keeping a dog and running a business from the flat meant that they were happy with the situation.
The case was delayed as Fenton claimed that he was not sure of his income and had not completed his means form, but eventually the court fined him £16,000 and ordered him to pay costs of £1,573 and a victim surcharge of £120 – a total of £17,693.
Cllr Harbi Farah, Brent Cabinet Member for Housing, said: "The dreadful conditions found at this flat reaffirm once again how important our private sector licencing scheme is.
"Slumlords like Mr Fenton should not be allowed to get away with treating their tenants like this. Brent is committed to supporting tenants by prosecuting unscrupulous landlords who are happy to under maintain and over crowd their properties."
Fenton is appealing against his prosecution.
