Your local Labour Council has issued a stark warning to private housing landlords – look after your properties and tenants or face the consequences.
This comes on the back of a successful prosecution by the Labour-controlled Bolsover District Council which saw Mr Martin Ambler handed a 10-month prison sentence at Chesterfield Crown Court on Monday 3 April 2023.
The defendant owned and let a number of properties on the West Lea estate in Clowne. Since attending court in August 2022 - where he pleaded guilty to four counts of breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order - he had breached the Order and the Judge’s instructions by not providing the relevant information on a number of conditions that had been set.
Labour Leader, Councillor Steve Fritchley said, “Whilst the vast majority of private landlords are good or excellent, this should serve as a warning to landlords to look after your properties and tenants or face the consequences. This has been a long process, but as a responsible council we were determined to protect our residents and get the right outcome for them.
During inspections of the defendant’s properties, Council officers found one of the properties was infested with rats and due to the major defects found, the rats continued to gain access to the property.
Droppings were found on a mattress, a child’s artwork had been chewed and the rats had even chewed through a water pipe causing a significant leak.
This family home contained numerous category 1 hazards (posing the most serious risk to health) and disrepair included holes in walls, gaps in windows that were falling apart, doors that didn’t close properly and external doors which allowed wind and water ingress. Mr Ambler failed to rectify the issues despite the Council’s repeated requests and his obligations under the Criminal Behaviour Order.
At another property owned by Mr Ambler, he failed to remove large amounts of fly tipped refuse from the gardens and council officers also found Mr Ambler was letting a property with metal shutters attached to the windows.
Steve added, “The properties were in a dire state and no-one should have to live like this in this day and age. We have been driving up private landlord standards for a number of years now and we continually work with private landlords to ensure they maintain and keep their properties in a good, sound state of repair.
“Mr Ambler did not engage with us and has constantly ignored our requests for information and to clean up his properties, and the sentence handed down shows the severity of the problem and underlines his complete disregard for his tenants, their well-being and the Court’s instructions.”
Labour locally is delivering. Labour in government will also deliver.