A Liverpool landlord (Step One (NW) Ltd) has been fined £20,000 plus £4,747.61 in costs and a £190 victim surcharge for breaches of the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006. Council officers attended at the property, a large HMO housing vulnerable occupants, after an anonymous complaint. Officers found that there were 43 defective fire doors throughout the property; fire alarms failed to meet required decibel levels such that occupants may not have been able to hear an alarm if a fire had started and fire extinguishers had out of date service records including some that had no record later than 2016 and the court was told that there had been a "systemic failure" to ensure the property was safe and adequately protected in case of fire.

Cllr. Sarah Doyle (Cabinet Member for Strategic Housing and Regeneration at the council) said the case "reveals a shocking disregard for the safety of vulnerable tenants."