A landlord has been left with a court bill totalling more than £6,000 after allowing a house in to fall into disrepair.
Robeul Alom Sadek Muqtadir was found guilty of failing to comply with an improvement notice served by Sandwell Council for a house in Oldbury.
The authority brought the case after investigating complaints regarding serious disrepair at the property. An officer from the council found which included boiler problems, water damage and dampness to the kitchen and lounge from the bathroom.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that Muqtadir had not responded to council officers’ attempts to resolve the issues by negotiation.
This led to the council serving an improvement notice on the owner in July 2015, ordering him to improve the house. No improvements were carried out.
Muqtadir was fined £5,000 for failing to comply with the improvement notice, as well as £749.54 costs and a £500 victim surcharge. This made a total court bill of £6,249.54.
An authority spokesman says: “The council has a good history of positive working with good landlords. All landlords have a legal responsibility to keep their properties in a good state of repair. In this case, the council has taken formal action as a final resort because this landlord failed in his responsibility and refused to correct this when asked to.”
