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Liverpool City Council prosecuted 33 landlords last year for renting out shared homes in multiple occupation (HMOs) that breached licensing laws or forced tenants to live in poor conditions.
Legal action against landlords resulted in nearly £345,000 in fines and another £60,000 from civil penalty notices issued by the council.
Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Sam East, said: “I’m delighted with this outcome. Bad landlords ruin lives and damage communities.
“The council is determined to ensure all tenants in privately rented homes are safe and the cases from this year, highlight our commitment.”
In the latest case, at Liverpool Magistrates Court, landlord Sheikh Ryhan Allen Miah and his company, SRA Property Ltd, were sentenced in their absence for 23 HMO licensing and management breaches.
SRA Property Ltd must pay fines and costs of £37,973, while Miah was to pay £13,991.
The court heard two HMOs owned and run by Miah and his company had defective fire detection equipment, defective fire doors, serious trip hazards, and other serious disrepairs. An enforcement notice was served but ignored, leading to the court case.
In a separate case, landlord Kamran Adil, 53, was fined £25,000 for renting out six shared houses without HMO licences.
Adil was facing HMO cases before Peterlee Magistrates, County Durham, for a second time.
The earlier investigation revealed that Adil owned 14 rental properties in County Durham. These properties were found to lack licences and were in poor repair due to dampness, mould, and other safety and health concerns.
At the earlier hearing in May 2023, magistrates ordered Adil to pay fines and costs of £47,000 for HMO licensing and management offences covering eight homes.
Adil admitted the latest offences to Durham County Council’s housing team but failed to carry out any repairs.
Magistrates fined him £3,000 for each of the six unlicensed homes, with an additional £7,200 victim surcharge and £350 in costs.
Meanwhile, housing officers in Portsmouth had to force entry with a warrant to several rent-to-rent homes in Portsmouth after a letting agency told tenants not to comply with a council inspection.
Portsmouth Crown Court was told the letting agent managed several shared properties, but none had an HMO licence, and most were overcrowded and in poor repair.
In the weeks after the council entered the homes, the letting agency’s director illegally harassed and tried to evict tenants.
The agency was ordered to pay fines and costs of £15,750, while the director must pay £19,150.
The rent-to-rent arrangements have ended, and each property is now under the owner's control.
Sentencing, the judge said: “You were in a position of power. You held the keys to the roof over their heads. They were vulnerable and didn’t know their rights. Officers from the local authority were perfectly entitled to enter the property to ensure the occupants’ welfare, something you as a landlord should also have been doing.”