A Nottingham property manager has been fined nearly £8,000 after admitting licensing offences.
Paul James, aged 54, of Nottingham, appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court where he faced charges relating to ten unlicensed properties – seven for Selective Licensing breaches, two for Additional Licensing and one for Mandatory Licensing. He managed these homes on behalf of a landlord and they were required to be licensed under either Part 2 or 3 of the Housing Act.
Mr James was fined £7,500, plus £1,109 costs and a victim surcharge of £170.
Just a few weeks ago the landlord of the properties, Dexter Blackstock, aged 33 of Papplewick as convicted of twelve offences of failing to license properties under the Selective Licensing scheme. These were in Addison Street, Haydn Road, Langtry Grove, Marmion Road, Magdala Road and Hucknall Road.
He also failed to license two properties under the Additional Licensing scheme – in Bingham Road and Addison Street – with one other offence under Mandatory Licensing for a flat in Addison Street. Mr Blackstock was fined £24,000, £1,100 costs and a victim surcharge of £170.
The prosecution was brought by Nottingham City Council’s Safer Housing team. The court heard that the total rental income for the 12 properties was more than £10,500 a month. It would have cost £12,180 to licence them for a period of five years.
Also, as part of investigations into the case, enforcement officers visited a number of the properties, where they found disrepair and in some cases found smoke alarms that weren’t working, meaning that the people wouldn’t have been given any warning if a fire broke out. Emergency Remedial works were carried and enforcement action was taken under Part One the Housing Act 2004.
Anyone wanting to report a landlord who has failed to license their property should call 0115 915 2020, option 3.
ENDS