Property firm fined £32,000 after improvement notice dispute

A property firm has been fined £32,134 and ordered to pay costs of £260 and a victim surcharge of £170 after pleading guilty to six offences relating to one of its homes to let.

Susu Properties Ltd of Cardiff had pleaded guilty to to charges of failure to comply with an improvement notice, failure to display manager’s details in the common area, failure to take safety measures, failure to maintain the gas and electricity supplies to the premises, failure to maintain the common parts and failure to maintain the living accommodation. 

In a separate case, landlord Shebul Miah pleaded guilty to one offence of failing to comply with an improvement notice in relation to a separate property in Cardiff. 

In November 2015 council officers received a complaint from the tenant regarding damp, leaking radiators, dirty carpets and broken kitchen cupboards. An inspection identified a range of other issues at the property, including a lack of fire safety measures, lack of security, defective windows and missing balusters to the stairs.

Despite an informal notice being sent to Miah, requiring works to be completed by January 21 2016, several subsequent inspections revealed that this had not been done. A formal notice was served on May 9 2016 but by an inspection on September 9 that year found that only six of 22 items on the schedule of works had been completed.

Miah was fined £6,000, ordered to pay costs of £398 and a victim surcharge of £170.