Clitheroe landlord fined after ignoring notice over damp, mould and no hot water

A private landlord has been ordered to pay £5,601.54 after failing to carry out repairs to a flat in Clitheroe where council officers found significant damp and mould growth, a defective boiler, faulty electrics and no hot running water.

Ribble Valley Borough Council, which brought the case, says the landlord pleaded guilty at Blackburn magistrates' court to failing to comply with an improvement notice. He was fined £2,025 and ordered to pay costs of £2,846.54.

The property, in Bawdlands, was jointly owned with another man. The council says it withdrew the charge against the second owner after the guilty plea, on the grounds that continuing was not in the public interest.

According to the council, the tenant of the ground floor flat first reported that the front door did not lock and the shower only ran cold. After further calls about disrepair, environmental health staff inspected and issued an improvement notice requiring the work to be done.

A new tenant later moved in and also complained. A second inspection found that the majority of the repairs in the notice had not been carried out.

Magistrates were told the state of the flat, and the long effort to get it fixed, had a serious impact on the first tenant's mental health, and that he had been unable to wash properly without hot water.

Councillor Mark Hindle, chairman of the council's health and housing committee, said: "Rented properties should be safe, clean and secure and landlords have a moral, as well as legal, duty to ensure they meet the proper standards."

He added: "The joint landlords had plenty of opportunities to make things right but they did essentially nothing to improve the situation."

In mitigation, the court heard the landlord had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, accepted mistakes had been made, and had been caring for a close family member with serious health issues. He accepted the works were late but said most had now been completed.