A pair of letting agents in Bristol have been ordered to pay more than £300,000 after poorly managing an HMO that featured 18 people living in what has been described as ‘squalid conditions’.
Adam Habane of Dove Street, and Lloyd Beckford of Lower Ashley Road, ran the building as an HMO, splitting it into seven flats, but the property had been “poorly converted”, magistrates heard.
The pair are not just the directors of the agencies managing the HMO – Ashley Marketing Services and Eunicareltd Ltd – but also the property owners.
Bristol Council’s private housing team visited the property in September 2019, finding 18 residents living in substandard conditions.
A council spokesperson said: “The property was discovered to be in very poor repair and poorly managed, with particular concerns for the safety of the occupants due to the absence of operating fire alarm systems.
“The concern was so great that, as a precautionary measure, the council provided battery operated smoke detectors to the property that day.”
Comments (6)
So criminals acting as LL and LA.
Not representative of the profession as a whole.
But certainly LA regulation cannot wait any longer.
Barriers to entry need to occur.
Unfortunately bad apples will affect all the good ones.
The POCA should be far more onerous and strip these Criminal LA and LL of all their assets and income.
The only way to stop the criminals is to make it financially not worthwhile.
The POCA needs to be used far more thoroughly especially as the criminal rewards are a lot more than other criminal works.
Read the report in the Bristol Post, it will explain it in more detail. They were, it seems, charged as indiviual landlord and again as managing agents:
Habane, guilty of seven offences: fines £66,000, costs £1,257.93, victim surcharge £181.
Habane as a director of Ashley Marketing Services, guilty of five offences: fines £51,000, costs £1,257.93.
Habane as a director of Eunickcareltd, guilty of five offences: fines £51,000, costs £1,015.31.
Lloyd Beckford guilty of five offences as a director of Eunickcareltd: fines £51,000, costs £1,015.31, victim surcharge £181.
Magistrates found, in absence, Ashley Marketing Services Ltd guilty of five offences: fines £56,000, costs £1,257.93, victim surcharge £181.
Magistrates found, in absence, Eunickcareltd guilty of five offences: fines £52,000, costs £1,015.31, victim surcharge £181.
Fantastic, thank you for the breakdown of costs there.
The tenants can apply for a Rent repayment Order for the period of time the properties were unlicensed and they should be encouraged to do so.
There should be a power of confiscation of property given to local authorities for repeat offenders – hit the rogue landlords where it hurts.
Landlord bashing gone mad , £300k ! Rouge landlords yes but £300k come on.
maybe if they had 1000 bad HMO’s but one ?
Apparently Adam Habane & Lloyd Beckford are known rouge landlords who have had many issues over the years. Specifically with poor conditions and un-registered premises. If this was the first time then I would be shocked, however they appear to be the kind of people that these laws and regulations were introduced to combat…. scum rouge landlords.
They are not deserving of our sympathy.
(also x7 “flats” without proper licensing can mean a £30,000 civil penalty each = £210,000 which could make up the bulk of the monies. Be aware that numerous breaches of the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2007 made under Section 234(1) of the Housing Act 2004 were identified as well as a number of breaches pertaining to electrical and gas safety. They were given over a year to remedy the situation as if they needed any more leeway)