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Landlord hit with £12,000 bill after ignoring legal notices
A landlord letting cold and damp properties has been hit with a bill of £12,000 for allowing tenants to live in poor conditions.
Robert Emery, of Higham, Kent, failed to make improvements to two properties in Chatham and another in Gillingham, ignoring legal notices.
He continued to let the Gillingham property despite Medway Council having served a prohibition order preventing anyone living there due to its poor state.
Two months later, council officers discovered new tenants in the property, which had damp in every room.
The tenants were said to have been placed there by agents Hilton Taylor.
Another property, in Chatham, had a damp problem as well as no heating and the toilet was broken.
Despite a formal improvement notice, Emery failed to carry out the necessary work.
A third property, also in Chatham, had a dangerous electrical system, rising damp and condensation, and some windows were lacking restrictors.
Despite the poor conditions, Emery allowed a tenant with two children under the age of five to live there and ignored an improvement notice.
Emery pleaded guilty to three offences.
He did not appear at Medway Magistrates’ Court when the case was heard last Thursday, but representatives from Hilton Taylor were in court.
Magistrates fined Emery £8,300 plus costs of £3,430 and a £350 victim surcharge.
http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/landlord-hit-12000-bill-ignoring-legal-notices/
