Reading Borough Council imposed a significant fine in November on a residential landlord for breaches of The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation ( England) Regulations 2006 and the Housing Act 2004 Section 11.

An HMO property at 33 London Road, Reading was found by the council to be in an appalling state with a leaking and collapsed ceiling, missing and broken windows, defective fire alarm and a non-functioning WC. Improvement notices sent by the council to the landlord were ignored going back to 2007.

Millicent Okumo, the former landlord, was prosecuted and found guilty on twelve charges:

Six offences under Regulation 7 – failure to ensure that fixtures and fittings used in the common parts were maintained in good repair, which included missing a window pane to the dining room, a broken WC, missing kitchen cabinet door, dirty and poorly maintained common parts.

Three offences under Regulation 8 – including poor repair of a bedroom window, leaking ceiling, a collapsed ceiling,

Two offences under Regulation 4 – the fire alarm system was not maintained in good working order

One offence under Section 11 of the Housing Act 2004 – failure to comply with an improvement notice requiring fire safety works to be done.

The Magistrates applied the maximum fines of £5,000 for each offence which totalled £60,000, with an additional £2,667 costs being applied.