Member Article

£2000 fine for Northumberland landlord who refused to repair Sunderland home

A Northumberland landlord has been fined £2000 for failing to carrying out urgent repairs on his Sunderland property – leading one North East lettings expert to state “cases like this make me sick”.

Sunderland Magistrates this week convicted Ponteland landlord Brij Bushan Chowdhry of failing to comply with a Housing Act Improvement Notice served on a property in Southwick by Sunderland City Council.

Magistrates heard Mr Chowdhry’s tenants had first complained about the condition of their home in September 2010, but despite council officers serving him with a list of essential maintenance demands, no repair work was carried out.

A formal Improvement Notice served in October 2012 ordered him to carry out repairs by the end of November last year.

Mr Chowdhry’s failure to comply saw city magistrates find him guilty of contravening the Housing Act 2004.

Ajay Jagota of North East lettings business KIS Lettings believes the case does not reflect the reality of the regions rented properties, but does demonstrate the “legal minefield” property investors need to contend with.

Ajay, who manages properties for 700 landlords from branches in Sunderland, North Shields and South Shields said: “Cases like this make me sick - Wearside and the wider North East is home to some of the best landlords in the UK and it’s really disappointing to see something like this happening in our backyard.

“Landlords rely on tenants - almost half of them would struggle to make ends meet if they missed a single month’s rent – so treating them poorly is not just inexcusable, it’s illogical, not least in an age where your reputation can be destroyed in seconds on the internet.

“This case does show however quite what a complicated business being a landlord can be – its a legal minefield and you can even end up in jail if you don’t do it right.

“There are fifty-odd laws governing the behaviour of landlords, and these change all the time. Just in the last few days the forthcoming Antisocial Behaviour and Crime Act has been altered to give local authorities the power to evict tenants from private properties.

“Even if you’re an experienced landlord it can be very sensible to work with reputable letting agent who can not just take all the hassle out of renting out a property but also stop you from falling foul of the law, especially if you’ve just taken on new tenants”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ajay Jagota .