A property management company has been landed with a legal bill of almost £2,000 after admitting that it failed to keep a property in Nottingham in good repair.

Nottingham City Council`s Housing Licensing and Compliance team secured a successful prosecution against ADKAM CIC (Community Interest Company) resulting in a fine of £1000 with costs of £836 and a £100 victim surcharge at Nottingham Magistrates court.

The Council prosecuted ADKAM CIC for five separate Housing Act offences due to the licence holder failing to manage the property in line with the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006.

ADKAM CIC pleaded guilty to five separate offences of failing to comply with the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations.

Nottingham City Council’s Housing Licensing and Compliance team licence landlords to operate HMOs. The council regularly undertakes risk-based compliance visits to ensure landlords are complying with the law, and on the 7th April 2017 council officers inspected a licensed house in multiple occupation (HMO) on Gregory Boulevard.

The licenced HMO was in a state of disrepair and the landlord ADKAM CIC was failing in its duties to manage the premises in accordance with the law. ADKAM CIC admitted in court that they had failed to keep the property in repair.

Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing, Cllr Jane Urquhart, said: “Landlords are required to manage their property in accordance with the law. As this case shows, we will take robust action through the courts to prosecute landlords who put tenants’ safety at risk.

“We have powers to revoke the licence of anyone convicted of offences such as these, preventing them from operating premises in future, as well as to impose civil penalties of up to £30,000 against landlords who contravene the law, as an alternative to taking prosecutions through the courts.”

From April 6th 2018 anyone committing a defined housing related offence such as this may receive a banning order preventing them from owning or operating rented housing.