A landlady has been fined £160,000 for breaking fire safety laws, following a fatal blaze in Hounslow.
Sukhi Sanha was rescued from the smoke-filled kitchen of the house at 41 Cromwell Road, Hounslow, on August 8 2011, but he died in hospital shortly afterwards.
Several other people managed to escape as flames tore through the property, in which 10 people were living, in the early hours of that morning.
Safety inspectors from the London Fire Brigade (LFB) visited the house that day and found a number of safety breaches, including:
• it wasn't possible for people to evacuate quickly and safely
• no fire detectors or smoke alarms
• no firefighting equipment
• no proper fire risk assessment was in place
Landlady Surinder Rana, who also rented out the neighbouring house, was found guilty at Kingston Crown Court on March 23 of four offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
The 64-year-old, of Marion Vale, Edinburgh, was sentenced at the same court on Friday (May 1), where she was fined £160,000 and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work. She was also told to pay £40,000 in costs.
Neil Orbell, the LFB's assistant commissioner for fire safety, said: "Landlords have a responsibility to keep their tenants safe from fire and if they are ignoring those responsibilities and putting the people living in their properties at risk we will not hesitate to prosecute.
"The sentence handed down to Mrs Rana is a stark reminder to landlords that the courts take fire safety as seriously as we do and that the penalties for ignoring it are severe."
The LFB said the fire safety breaches were not alleged to have caused Mr Sanha's death.
