Landlord ordered to pay £25k+ over unsafe, unlicensed HMOs

A landlord who operated five unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) has been ordered to pay more than £25,000 after a prosecution by the London Borough of Redbridge.

“The properties were also found to be potential death traps after having virtually no fire safety measures in place to protect tenants, including smoke alarms and fire blankets in the kitchen,” Redbridge Council said.

Following his appearance at Barkingside Magistrates Court on Friday 11 October 2019 Mindaugas Cikanavicius, 37 from Palmerston Road, Grays, pleaded guilty to operating unlicensed, overcrowded and unsafe HMO’s.

The defendant was fined £14,800 and ordered to pay costs of £10,105. A victim surcharge of £260 was also imposed.

During sentencing the judge is reported to have stated that Cikanavicius had “56 vulnerable people in his properties and if there had been a fire there would have been some deaths on his hands”.

Cllr Farah Hussain, Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness at Redbridge, said: “It is completely unacceptable that people should be living in conditions that put their lives at risk.

“This landlord showed a complete disregard for the safety of his tenants and it’s only right that he now faces the full weight of the law.

“We take a zero-tolerance approach to landlords of this type and will continue to crack down on all suspected HMO’s and unlicensed properties to root out rogue operators in the borough.”