Feb

Landlord pays £90,000 in fines and costs for unlicenced houses, even though properties were in good shape

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London Borough of Brent is latest council to get tough with landlords who don’t register their properties within Selective Licensing scheme areas.

A landlord in London
is the latest to be fined for renting out unlicenced properties within a
Selective Licensing scheme and is to pay a total of £90,763 despite the
properties (one of which is pictured) not giving council inspectors any serious
concerns.

Stephen Ige, aged
49, has pleaded guilty to renting out three unlicenced properties within the
London Borough of Brent after being told by council representatives several
times that he needed to comply.

The huge fine includes
£25,000 for each property plus £5,000 for failing to supply documents to Brent
and £10,763 in costs to the council.

The size of the
fines also reflects the fact that Ige is a repeat offender, having previously been
found to have illegally let two other properties in the area. He was later fined
£5,000 for each property but subsequently applied for licences for the two
properties.

Brent’s Selective
Licensing schemes operate in the wards of Dudden Hill, Kensal Green, Kilburn,
Mapesbury and Queen’s Park, although a further 13 wards may soon be included if
the borough’s recent application to the Secretary of State is given the green
light.

“Renting
out a property is a serious business and in Brent we have introduced selective
licensing to ensure that tenants are living in safe, well managed homes,” says Brent
Council’s cabinet member for housing and welfare reform Cllr Eleanor Southwood.

“If you are a
landlord in selective licensing area, failing to licence your property puts you
at risk of being prosecuted and fined.

“While the council did not identify any serious concerns with the
current state of Ige’s properties, our licensing scheme is designed to give
tenants confidence that they are living in homes that are safe.”

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