Landlord fined over rat-infested home
A landlord has been fined £14,000 after his tenants were found to be living in hazardous conditions, with rats running freely around the house.
Wolverhampton Magistrates Court heard that Ranjeev Singh Sahota left his property in The Square, Wolverhampton, in such a poor state that the wiring was a danger to his tenants and rats were escaping into the house from an uncapped sewer.
Describing the case as one of the worst he had ever seen, chair of the bench Mr Stephen Edwards said: "The property was in a dangerous state with numerous hazards.
"These were categorised by the council and sufficient warning was given to the defendant to put the property right. He chose not to do so. This was wilful not neglect. There was significant hazard and risk to the occupiers to make these fines appropriate."
Mr Sahota failed to attend the hearing on July 22, and was found guilty in his absence of breaching an Emergency Prohibition Order, failing to comply with an Improvement Notice, failing to supply documentation to the local authority and failing to return a requisition in relation to interest in land.
Sahota, aged 27, of Finney Well Close, Bilston, was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £3,703 costs and a £120 victim surcharge.
In a separate case heard at the same court, also on July 22, letting agency KSS Properties Ltd and landlord Ranjit Singh Benning were sentenced following concerns over the safety of gas and electricity supplies at a property in Prosser Street, Park Village.
