A UK landlord has been ordered to pay thousands of pounds in Court over the poor state of a house in multiple occupation (HMO).
On 10 March 2017, David Kayani, Reading, was handed fines and costs totalling £8,000 after pleading guilty to seven charges under the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006.
The 36-year-old landlord found himself facing legal action after Reading Council’s private sector housing team visited the property on three occasions in 2016.
According to reports, officers discovered serious obstructions throughout the home, including a washing machine blocking the second floor hallway and a fridge freezer blocking the first floor hallway.
Officers also found that Mr Kayani had failed to correctly display the property’s HMO licence – and that no valid gas safety certificate was present.
Further inspection revealed that several common areas throughout the property were not in a state of ‘good and clean decorative repair’, while a large piece of torn carpet was found to be obstructing one tenant’s bedroom door, and there was constant running water from a kitchen tap.
These findings came after Mr Kayani was previously asked to improve the state of the property’s common areas and to provide a full management folder to Officers – both of which he failed to do.
At Reading Magistrates Court, Mr Kayani pleaded guilty to seven charges, and was fined £700 for each offence. He was also ordered to pay costs of £3,100.