Landlord with ‘deathtrap’ flats is fined £57,000

A LANDLORD has been ordered to pay more than £60,000 after renting out “deathtrap” bedsits in one of London’s most exclusive streets.

David Symonds, 73, earned £3,530 per month from six tenants in the townhouse in Holland Park.

The £4 million property in Woodsford Square was described as an “accident waiting to happen” when council officers who were called in after a blaze found unsafe wiring and a shoddy fire alarm system.

Symonds, now selling up, was fined £57,000 with £3,825 costs by Westminster magistrates after admitting 20 housing offences.