HMO landlord who failed to properly identify himself at court found guilty in his absence and fined £44,000

Close Up Detail Of The Scales Of Justice 2021 08 27 16 37 29 Utc

The landlord identified himself simply as "a man" during a prosecution at Bristol Magistrates court brought by South Gloucestershire Council's private sector housing team.

The landlord, Giuseppe Sutera, who is also known as Joe Sutera, was taken to court by the council for breach of an Environmental Protection Order (EPO) served under the Housing Act 2004 and for failing to comply with a requisition for information notice (under the Local Govt Act 1974) to provide details of his home address and of the property he owned.

When identifying himself at court as "a man" the landlord also said that Joe Sutera was "lost at sea". Thus, as the landlord had not properly identified himself, the court "decided that Joe Sutera was not in fact present, and he was found guilty in his absence .... and his uncooperative attitude at court served to highlight the way he has hampered the investigations of the private sector housing team."

The council's investigation of the landlord started after a complaint was made by one of his tenants in an HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) that the landlord rented out. An unannounced inspection of the property found that a category 1 fire safety hazard was evident which had the potential for serious injury or death of an occupant due to there being no safe escape route in the event that a fire occurred in the HMO.

The shared kitchen in the house was located in the middle of the main escape route in the property; there were no fire doors to any of the bedrooms in the house and there were no functioning smoke alarms installed. A secondary escape route in the building was located in one of the bedrooms "where there was also a makeshift kitchenette located in the porch" which meant the secondary escape route was also blocked.

The council goes on to say that "With full knowledge that the EPO had been served, Sutera continued to let the property putting his tenants' lives at risk." The private sector housing team had inspected the proeprty on several occasions after serving the EPO but not only had the landlord continued to rent the property to existing tenants, he had also set up new tenancies and new tenants had moved in after the service of the prohibition notice.

Cllr. Leigh Ingham, the council's Cabinet Member for Environmental Health, said "South Gloucestershire has approximately 17,000 privately rented properties, and we will not tolerate landlords failing to meet their legal responsibilities .... Our private sector housing team always try to work with landlords to bring their properties up to standard, but where this informal approach fails, we will look to take enforcement action. The level of fine in this case serves as a serious warning ...."

Looking for up to the minute updates on all selective licensing and PRS news? Follows us on Facebook Twitter LinkedIn


    Contact Request

    Fields marked* are required