An east London landlord has been fined over £16,000 after leaving 10 people in a house of horrors infested with cockroaches.
The residents, including four children, were living at the property in Thorn Lane, Rainham, which was a fire risk and did not have suitable kitchen facilities for the number of people in the home.
Havering Council found a number of fire safety breaches at the property, and that landlord Feriz Mehmood also failed to ensure that smoke detectors were working properly.
Mr Mehmood also failed to provide valid gas and electrical safety certificates when requested by council officers.
To make matters worse, the property was also found to be infested with cockroaches, which Mr Mehmood failed to treat.
Mr Mehmood, who lives in Elm Park, pleaded guilty to 16 separate breaches of HMO license conditions at Barking Magistrates Court earlier this month.
He was fined £12,000 for the offences, plus costs of £2,227.89, and a victim surcharge of £2,000.
He was ordered to pay a total of £16,027.89 by July 1.
Havering Council leader Ray Morgon said: “All our residents deserve to live in safe accommodation.
"We will continue to crack down on irresponsible landlords taking advantage of families and individuals by providing poorly maintained HMO properties.
“We won’t tolerate it and neither will we stand for landlords not having the correct licences.
“We are also here to support landlords and work alongside them to help them make sure tenants are living safely in private rented accommodation in Havering.
“However, landlords of HMOs that break the rules like in this case, must be aware we will use the strongest possible action against them.”
