A landlord from Birmingham has been fined after admitting he ‘didn’t care’ about flats he rented out which contained a number of fire safety deficiencies.
Mr Jabbar Khalid admitted to breaching landlord regulations and failing to obtain an HMO licence, and was fined £1,800 with £2,000 costs and victim surcharge of £60.
The property was visited by council officers from the private rented services team, supported by West Midlands Police, in March this year to assess the property for an HMO licence.
They met five of the 12 people living there and found that the property was in a neglected state of repair.
Among the problems found that morning were: the fire alarm panel was not working, there were no fire blankets in two kitchens, the ground floor smoke detector was beeping, another smoke detector had a part missing, fire doors to two rooms were poorly fitted and fire doors to bedrooms were missing thumb-turn locks placing residents at risk of becoming trapped, searching for keys during a blaze.
Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for housing and homes, Cllr Peter Griffiths, said: “Khalid admitted to my officers that he didn’t care about the property and he did not take any responsibility for ensuring the safety and comfort of his tenants.
“The list of defects at the property goes on and on and the pictures officers took confirm that the property offered little more than a roof over the tenants’ heads.
“I am appalled by the conditions that his tenants had to endure and I am extremely pleased that we have been able to successfully prosecute another rogue landlord through our specialist work.”