A landlord and property owner who failed to repair a serious water leak in a private rented property in Lewisham have been fined £4,000 after their tenants’ bathroom ceiling collapsed.
After the tenants got in contact with Lewisham Council in November 2021 to complain about the leak from the bathroom ceiling, housing officers served the landlord and property manager with a formal notice requiring them to take action.
Two weeks later, despite several warnings from the Council, no repairs had been carried out to address the leak, resulting in the collapse of the bathroom ceiling.
The collapse made it impossible for the tenants to enter the bathroom and also cut off power to the lights in the flat, forcing them to be moved into temporary accommodation.
The landlord, Felicia Ifeobikwu, and property owner, Michael Okoroafor, appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ Court last month. The pair pleaded guilty to not complying with the original repair notice and a £4,067.83 fine was issued.
Cllr Sophie Davis, Cabinet Member for Housing Management and Homelessness, said:
“We are committed to supporting private renters in Lewisham and taking action against landlords who break the law. Everybody has a right to good-quality, safe housing and we will continue working to improve standards in the private-rented sector.”
Councillor Sophie Davis, cabinet member for housing management and homelessness, said: “We are committed to supporting private renters in Lewisham and taking action against landlords who break the law.
“Everybody has a right to good-quality, safe housing and we will continue working to improve standards in the private-rented sector.”
The fine, according to another report, was for each of them. There is no excuse for this to have got as far as the Council and to then ignore it just proves what rogues they are.
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And this is why rest of us with zero problems who sometimes have a plumber there within 10 mins of the call if he’s passing, get vilified by Govt & Council & Selective Licensing £890 charge which puts tenants rents up.
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This is the point however, rouge landlords will ignore all regulation. Therefore increased regulation does absolutely nothing to stop them and merely deters good landlords.
To be fair, the tenants could have organised the repair themselves and deducted the cost from the rent…
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@ A W, yees, they COULD have but why the h*ll should they. That is wwhat they pay rent for. I have plumbers etc who will prioritise my tenants, as should any good landlord. These two specimens got of lightly and were lucky not to have been jailed.
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