Newham Council in east London has closed a dangerous and dilapidated privately rented three-bedroom family house, which was rented to a family with two young children.
The council’s private rented sector licensing team visited the property in March and found evidence of it being partially gutted for renovation works, while still being rented out for £700 a month to a couple with two children, who were occupying the ground floor.
During the inspection of the property in Manor Park, officers found hot water from a bath in the tiny kitchen being used to clean crockery in the kitchen sink, as well as exposed electrical wiring, walls stripped back to the brickwork – and missing ceilings in unoccupied upstairs bedrooms.
They also found chimneybreasts removed in rooms occupied by the family downstairs, but no supporting steels had been put in place.
A fridge freezer was also in use in the back garden.
The council issued a Prohibition Notice to the landlord, banning anyone from living inside the house until it was made safe.
Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, said:
“This was truly a house of horrors – it was unsanitary and unsafe.
“The ceilings could have collapsed at any time, the wiring could have sparked a fire – but this landlord saw no problem putting this young couple and their children in grave danger and charging them for it.
“Without our licensing scheme, we may not have come across this family and been able to take them out of harm’s way – and now this landlord will pay for his negligence.”
Newham Council’s data warehouse – which uses information from across council services and from outside agencies – helped the team to identify this property as being rented out.
The landlord – who did not have a licence – will now be prosecuted under the Housing Act 2004 for failing to have a licence and for poor management of the property.
If the landlord allows anyone to live in the property before it is declared safe by the council’s building control team, he could also face prosecution, with an unlimited fine.
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