£5,000 bill for Eastwood landlord over safety breaches

A LANDLORD has been ordered to pay more than £5,000 after he failed to carry out vital safety works on his properties - including work to correct fire hazards.

Sheffield Magistrates heard that Hanif Mohammed Khan (54), who owns properties in the Eastwood selective licensing area, had failed to carry out works required by Rotherham Borough Council, which served improvement notices on him.

This included dealing with hazards relating to fire safety, damp and, in the case of one property on Selborne Street at Eastwood, the state of the kitchen - a new one was needed and was only completed on the morning of the court hearing (some 12 months later).

Khan, of Broom Lane, Broom, was convicted of three offences of breaching improvement notices and one breach of his selective licence for failing to provide a valid gas safety certificate. 

He was fined £4,000 after magistrates convicted him in his absence and ordered to pay costs of £1,121 and a victim surcharge of £100.

Also fined by magistrates last week for Housing Act offences was landlord Moshin Haroon Siddique (33), of Broom Valley Road. 

Siddique had failed to provide evidence of background checks carried out prior to offering a tenancy at his property in Russell Street, Eastwood, on two separate occasions, the court heard.

Sheffield Magistrates fined him £400 with costs of £185 and a victim surcharge of £30.

The council’s cabinet member for housing, Cllr Dominic Beck, said: “Although the majority of private landlords are law abiding, we will continue to take action through the courts against the small minority who fail to act on their responsibilities and ensure that their tenants have a decent standard of housing.”