Rogue landlord ‘made Scrooge look charitable’
AN ‘unscrupulous’ landlord who rented out flats in Birmingham was compared to a villain from Dickens’ Christmas Carol while being sentenced for breaching housing regulations.
A district judge said he would have jailed George Lindsay, 55, of Chester Road, Erdington, if he had the powers and said compared to him Scrooge “was a philanthropist”. Instead he was fined £19,970. Lindsay rented an Erdington property where almost all of the smoke detectors were missing, placing 10 people, including four children, at risk.
Birmingham City Council worked with the police to gain access to one of three properties Lindsay owned – one in Chester Road, one in Slade Road and another in Minstead Road.
The council officers were so concerned about the lack of fire precautions they contacted West Midlands Fire Service.
Other breaches included a failure to license one of his properties, scorched electrical fittings, missing and inadequate fire doors, mattresses, a fridge freezer and washing machines blocking fire escape routes and a failure to provide gas and electrical test certificates.
Leaks from a roof into a bedroom occupied by an adult and three children were found at another property while, another tenant had no kitchen facilities and was being forced instead to use a halogen heater placed on its side.
Officers also found a missing shower head which meant that at least nine people had to share one bathroom and a bath was taped up “presumably to stop a leak”.
The landlord was prosecuted
by
Birmingham City Council for failing to obtain a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence and 13 breaches of HMO Management Regulations.
Robert James, acting director for neighbourhoods at Birmingham City Council, said: “In the middle of a national housing crisis it’s absolutely disgraceful that landlords, like Mr Lindsay, are taking advantage of people in this unscrupulous way.
“When the council is made aware of properties like these, we’ll do all that we can to pursue rogue landlords and to ensure that tenants are kept safe and their rights to decent housing are upheld.
“House in Multiple Occupation properties can be a great means to providing affordable housing and we’ll continue to work closely with the landlords who provide a fantastic service. However, we must ensure that standards are upheld so that citizens in Birmingham get the housing which they deserve.”
Birmingham City Council said the district judge also requested that HMRC reviews his financial records.
The council said Lindsay had previously been prosecuted in February 2010 for failure to license two of the properties. The authority said since his prosecution in 2010, Birmingham City Council Officers have repeatedly tried to persuade Lindsay to license his property, offering him advice and guidance and said “he has wilfully ignored this and has not applied for a licence”.