Eight landlords get criminal records for failing to license properties

Eight private landlords have been convicted  for failing to comply with Rent Smart Wales regulations under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014.

All eight, with properties across Wales, were found guilty of breaching registration and licensing scheme requirements. In addition to facing financial penalties, each now has a criminal record, which will impact their ability to let and manage properties in the future.

Tenants of those operating without a licence will be able to apply to the Residential Property Tribunal for Wales for Rent Repayment Orders, which allows tenants or local authorities to recover rent, housing benefit, or the housing costs element of Universal Credit from landlords who have breached specific housing laws. 

Tenants can recover up to 12 months’ rent through an RRO.

A total of £10,620 in fines, surcharges and costs were handed out to the non-compliant landlords last week.

Cases included:

• Babatunde Oladejo of Lewisham, London was found guilty of being unlicensed to let a property at Penarth. He was fined £440;

• Hannah Griffiths of Lampeter was found guilty of letting out two properties both in Lampeter, without being licensed with Rent Smart Wales. She was fined £440;

• David Toner of Swansea, was found to have let out two properties without being registered or licensed with Rent Smart Wales. He was fined £375;

• Christopher Jenkins of Cardiff was found to have let out a property without being registered or licensed with Rent Smart Wales. He was given a fine of £440;

• Luke Palmer of Merthyr Tydfil let out a property without being registered or licensed with Rent Smart Wales. He was fined £440;

• Dominic Senger of Prestatyn was found to have let out five properties across Prestatyn and Rhyl without being registered with Rent Smart Wales. He was fined £880;

• SCC Property Investments Limited, a company registered in Bishop Auckland was convicted for the second time of letting out a property on Deeside, without a registration or licence. The company was ordered to pay a fine of £1,980;

• Ceril Bevan of Penarth let out a property without being registered and was given a fine of £440.

A Rent Smart Wales spokesperson says: “Most of the cases … were results of landlords failing to renew their Rent Smart Wales registration or licence before they expired. There’s no excuse for this, especially when the service contacts landlords with reminders to renew.

“It’s a costly mistake to make. Not only do these landlords now have criminal convictions and fines to pay, in the cases where the landlord was managing the property without a Rent Smart Wales licence, Rent Smart Wales will be contacting their tenants in due course to encourage them to apply for Rent Repayment Orders.”

This article is taken from Landlord Today