On 1st June 2022 we reported on a housing standards prosecution taken by City of Wolverhampton Council against a landlord who had put his tenants "at serious risk" to their health and safety due to numerous breaches of housing management regulations. On that occasion the landlord had to pay £4,808 in fines, costs and surcharges.

Prior to that prosecution the landlord had been invited by the council to attend an interview under caution but he did not respond to the invitation which meant that the council had no option but to escalate their enforcement action to the prosecution stage.

The same landlord has now been prosecuted by the city council again but this time for operating an unlicensed HMO. He was found guilty at Dudley Magistrates Court and ordered to pay fines, costs and a victim surcharge totalling £2,814. It is reported that the landlord ignored repeated advice from council officers that he needed to apply for an HMO licence and he also failed to comply with council requests that he provide legally required information to them.