Sheffield PRS Landlord hit with longest banning order so far claims "my tenants think I'm the best"

Aerial View Of Terraced Homes In The Nort 2022 09 20 01 19 52 Utc

Sheffield City Council has obtained a 10 year banning order against a PRS landlord who it says "has a long history of operating and managing extremely poor quality housing."

The council also says it has prosecuted the landlord many times and that its latest prosecution "has come as a result of [the landlord's] continuation of the most severe housing offences. His properties were some of the most dangerous properties ever seen by the council's enforcement staff." The landlord had been previously convicted and jailed for harassing his tenants and, in 2021, was also sentenced to a 12 month Community Order.

Cllr. Douglas Johnson, Chair of the council's Housing Committee, said the banning order "reflects the seriousness of [the landlord's] actions and his flagrant disregard for fire safety and the safety of his tenants. We are very happy to see his name on the Rogue Landlord Database."

However, it appears that this Rogue Landlord then went rogue in media interviews. Instead of discreetly accept the outcome of his prosecution and the subsequent decision of the First Tier Tribunal to ban him for 10 years (currently the longest ban in the country so far) the landlord did media interviews in which he berated the council's prosecution of him and the FTT banning him. He stated that "My tenants think I'm the best. One of my tenants said I'm a good leader. They just love me."

In a fit of 'whataboutism' he then criticised Sheffield Council for itself renting out dangerous properties - in 2022 the council had reported itself to the regulator for having around 800 overdue safety checks and this year it transpired that 100s of gas safety checks had still not been carried out by the council. He also accused his tenants of "trashing" his properties.

He went on to say "They are also saying I'm 'rogue', but now its time to show that I'm rogue and put my foot down. I'm very soft and not how they've portrayed me .... now it's time to show that I'll go rogue - the council are making me go bad. They've ruined my reputation but it doesn't bother me, seriously. I don't care at all ...."

For his latest offences, as well as the banning order, the landlord was ordered to pay fines and costs of £7000.

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