An agent has been found guilty of 15 separate offences relating to Houses in Multiple Occupation, and ordered to pay over £72,000.

Muhammad Siddique purported to be a franchisee of Open House, even though his franchise had been terminated back in 2016.

However, he carried on using the brand.

He was prosecuted by Watford Borough Council and convicted at St Albans Magistrates Court.

The offences related to three illegally established HMOs dating back to December 2017.

He had been instructed to let these properties to single families, but unknown to the property owners, let the rooms individually and turned them into HMOs.

He had failed to carry out upgrade work required to safeguard tenants from fire risks. There were no safe escape routes in the properties and inadequate fire detection, with one of the properties not having a single working smoke detector.

Inspections by the council’s environmental health officers also uncovered other health and safety breaches including a blocked and overflowing drain, waste accumulating, dirty toilets and signs of damp.

Siddique also failed to comply with requests to supply gas and electrical safety certificates and other information about the properties to the council.

The council worked with the property owners to improve standards in the properties. Two of the property owners and the managing director of Open House supported the council’s action in bringing the prosecution.

Siddique was ordered to pay a total of £72,090, including a fine, prosecution costs and a victim surcharge.

Mayor of Watford Peter Taylor said: “Residents deserve a safe place to live and people renting a home have the right to expect it is maintained to a decent standard and not be exploited or put at risk of harm.”

Alex Morrison, director at Open House Estate Agents, said: “We terminated Mr Siddique’s Open House franchise back in 2016 due to his repeated failure to adhere to our strict customer care and compliance procedures.

“However, he has illegally continued to trade in the Watford area since then, using our brand, and a number of unlawful and unethical practices came to our attention which were then reported to Watford Council.

“We have been working closely with the council’s environmental health team to take action against Mr Siddique and we are extremely relieved that this rogue agent has now been convicted.”