Town landlord left tenant without water or adequate heating in their rented property over Christmas and New Year 2021
3rd March 2023 17:12pm
A private landlord has been prosecuted after a family, including a baby and two older children were left without water or heating in their rented property over Christmas and New Year 2021.
Anthony Wardrop, 79, of The Parade, Hartlepool, on behalf of Sedgedene Estates Limited, was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £580 in costs and charges for failing to carry out work to make the property in Westmoreland Street, Darlington, County Durham safe.
Wardrop denied a charge of failing to comply with an Improvement Notice served in January 2022 by Darlington Borough Council, but was found guilty when he appeared at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (28 February).
The Improvement Notice, issued under the Housing Act 2004 by Darlington Borough Council private sector housing officers ordered the landlord to carry out basic duties in the property such as providing gas and electricity safety certificates as well as ensuring the property had adequate heating and was free from damp and mould.
Magistrates heard he had delayed carrying out works inside the property for several months and only started the work after investigations for the prosecution had began, despite continued efforts by the council to assist him.
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