A landlord has been ordered to pay almost £35,000 in fines after admitting failing to obtain a licence for shared houses he rented out.
Harishbhai Rambhai Patel was prosecuted by Leicester City Council for not getting the authority's permission to run three houses in multiple occupancy (HMOs).
Patel (56), of Southernhay Road, Stoneygate, Leicester, pleaded guilty to 12 offences under the Housing Act 2004 relating to the three unlicensed houses in Highfields – two in Evington Street and one in Gopsall Street.
By law, landlords must apply for a licence for any property with three storeys or more and occupied by five or more people forming at least two households.
The regulations are in place to ensure shared accommodation is safe to live in.
At the hearing on Friday, Leicester magistrates fined Patel £10,000 for each of the three houses.
He was also fined £500 for failing to produce necessary documents and a further £4,000 for eight breaches of the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006.
Magistrates further ordered Patel to pay £4,124.15 in legal costs, along with a £120 victim surcharge.
In total, he will have to pay £38,744.15.
Both properties in Evington Street are three-storey houses containing a combination of self-contained flats and bedsits, occupied by five or more people.
Environmental health officers from the council visited the properties following a fire at 11 Evington Street in May last year.
They discovered neither house met the fire safety standards needed.
Both properties Patel owned in the street have remained empty since the fire.
Officers visited the property in Gopsall Street in September following a complaint.
They found it had a faulty fire detection system, damaged fire doors, torn carpets, cracked plaster and broken windows.
Ten people were living there at the time.
The council said Patel had since carried out repairs to bring the property up to the correct standard and officials are in the course of dealing with his application to get a licence for the house.
Leicester assistant mayor for neighbourhood services Councillor Sarah Russell said: "Proper licensing for HMOs is there to ensure the safety of residents and landlords who fail to do so are putting tenants at risk.
"As this case shows, landlords face prosecution and heavy fines if they fail to comply with the laws – laws which have been put in place for good reason, to ensure that multiple-occupancy homes are in a fit state."
