Haringey homes in on unscrupulous landlord
Friday 14 December 2007
A landlord who failed to install a fire alarm and fire doors in a house crammed with up to 10 people has been fined £8,000 following a prosecution by Haringey Council.
Nandlall Puttur was also ordered to pay the council costs of £1,500 after pleading guilty to two counts of contravening the Housing Act 1985 at Tottenham Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 5 December 2007.
The Court heard that an officer from Haringey Council visited Puttur's two-storey property in Langham Road, N15, in October 2005 following a complaint by one of his tenants.
The officer found that there were nine tenants occupying the six rooms in the property. They shared a single kitchen and a single bathroom, there were no fire-check doors and no fire alarm system, and the common parts were dirty and poorly maintained.
The following month the council served two notices on Mr Puttur, requiring him to carry out the necessary works to make the property suitable for occupation by a maximum of five people.
Puttur then had the property vacated.
But in 2006 the house was re-let, without the necessary works having been carried out. When the council officer visited the property in August 2006, he found that up to 10 tenants were living there.
Puttur told the court that he had no financial means, but the council produced evidence of five other properties owned by him in Haringey. He was given 28 days to pay the full amount of £9,500.
Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Isidoros Diakides, said: "
This was a case where a landlord not only allowed his tenants to live in horribly overcrowded conditions, but also potentially put their lives at risk by failing to provide basic fire safety measures.
"I am pleased that he has been brought to justice, and I hope it sends out a message to other unscrupulous landlords that we will continue to monitor them and won't hesitate to pursue legal action if necessary.
"Everyone deserves the right to live in a decent home. We will continue to work as hard as we can to ease the housing crisis we face in Haringey and prevent reoccurrences of this kind of case."
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