A London landlord who let a property to multiple occupants without obtaining a licence has been fined thousands of pounds in Court.
Mr Oner Arslanboga, was ordered to pay £6,470 in fines and costs, after a Judge ruled that the rogue landlord had failed to obtain a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence for a property managed by lettings agent, South East Residentials.
Environmental Health Officers brought legal action against both parties after a health inspection revealed that Mr Arslanboga had lied about the number of tenants occupying the property, in a bid to avoid the costs involved with obtaining an HMO licence.
Health Officers told a Court that an inspection at the property revealed “failures to comply with the most basic housing regulations under the Housing Act 2014”, lacking smoke detectors, alarms and other legal requirements.
A Court heard that “all five rooms of the premises” were poorly maintained, and occupied by at least one tenant.
Despite Mr Arslanboga’s insistence that the property was occupied by just one family, more than one of the tenants claimed that they did not know the occupants of the other rooms.
A Judge ruled that both Mr Arslanboga and lettings agent South East Residentials were both guilty of failure to obtain an HMO licence, and had breached the Management of House of Multiple Occupations Regulations 2006, along with several other regulations.