Landlord fined after fire service deems flat ‘unsafe’

Landlord fined after fire service deems flat ‘unsafe’

Safety failings ‘beggar’s belief’

A Leeds landlord has been fined after an investigation by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and the local council found a number of fire safety breaches at one of his properties.

Mr Hari Amedi was handed a £1,100 fine and ordered to pay an additional £1582 in costs.

Officers identified a serious lack of fire safety measures in the flat, which also shared access with the fried chicken takeaway downstairs.

The flat also had dangerous electrics, damp and mould, excess cold and poor security measures, prompting an emergency prohibition order, preventing Mr Amedi from letting the flat until improvements were made.

A follow up inspection, however, found that Mr Amedi had re-let the property without installing the required fire safety works.

Councillor Debra Coupar, executive member for communities, said: “We expect all privately rented properties to be kept to a safe standard.

This is even more important when those properties are based above a business, and particularly when that involves cooking.

“It beggars belief that a landlord would put their tenants at such risk with a total disregard for even basic fire safety.

“Thanks to our proactive approach we’ve been able to take action and prevent a potential tragedy.”

Chris Kemp, fire protection manager for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service are committed to supporting business and property owners to comply with requirements imposed upon them, however when there is a clear disregard for public safety as is the case here, we have no alternative but to support our partners in taking legal action against those individuals.

Original source: Yorkshire Evening Post

Sign In

Sign Up