After an investigation by officers from Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue service a landlord from Dawlish has pleaded guilty to 3 offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The fire safety offences related to a property which comprised commercial premises on the ground floor and a privately rented flat on the upper floor.

The landlord, who before retiring had operated his own estate and property management firm, had been contacted in 2021 by the fire service about concerns over the lack of proper fire safety measures at the property. However, as the investigation progressed, officers realised that the landlord had know about the poor fire safety precautions as far back as 2009 and had done nothing to remediate the problems.

There were structural failures at the property along with no effective means of escape from the flat in case of a fire and no fire risk assessment had been carried out. Added to which the occupying tenant was classed as vulnerable due to being elderly and disabled but knowing all of this as well as the vulnerability of the tenant, the landlord had continued to take rent whilst doing nothing about the fire safety risk such that he had put his tenant at risk of death or serious injury if a fire had broken out at the address.

Magistrates ordered the landlord to pay the full costs of the prosecution, at over £8000, as well as a victim surcharge. The fire service reported that the fines would have been higher but for the fact that the defence counsel said that the landlord's weekly income was only £389.