The tenant rented a 6 bedroom property in Leamington Spa through a letting agent but then rented rooms out to 8 sub tenants (thus becoming their landlord). The situation was discovered when the property was inspected by officers from Warwick District Council - following a complaint from one of the residents - who found serious safety and disrepair issues at the property in February 2022.

The landlord had not applied for an HMO licence that would allow him to rent the proeprty out to this number of tenants.

During the inspection it was found that there was no functioning smoke detection, no fire doors, no fire blanket in the kitchen, and no fire extinguishers at all in the property.

Further, the electrics were unsafe, there was no working shower and the floor tiles in the bathroom were broken. One of the tenants had been provided with a mouldy mattress to sleep on, the rear garden was full of refuse and there were insufficient wheelie bins for the number of occupants in the property.

In September 2022 Coventry Magistrates Court found that the tenant, operating as a landlord had failed to apply for an HMO licence, failed to comply with an improvement notice served by the council and had failed to comply with the HMO management regulations. He was fined £10,000 for each offence and had to pay a further fine of £1000 for failure to provide written information to the council relating to the ownership and the occupation of the property. He also had to pay a £150 victim surcharge and £150 costs.

Cllr. Jan Matecki, the council's Portfolio Holder for Housing Services, said "It is reassuring that the Courts recognise the gravity of these offences, and it is hoped that the level of fine handed out will be a strong deterrent to others who may be tempted to let a property in this way."