Plymouth landlord fined after breaching fire safety regulations
A Plymouth landlord has been found guilty of fire safety breaches after a housing officer conducted an audit on the property last year. The officer discovered that the building had not been fitted with fire alarms, fire extinguishers or adequate emergency lighting.
Mrs Bartlett was ordered to pay £6,929 in costs and will carry out 120 hours of community service after Plymouth Magistrates Court found her guilty of not adhering to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.
Plymouth landlord pays £6,000 after breaching fire safety regulations
A landlord in Plymouth has been found guilty of breaching fire safety regulations and has been ordered to pay £3,500 in fines and more than £2,500 in costs after a fire safety audit on the premises.
The audit revealed that Mr Penprase had failed to provide adequate fire alarms and emergency lighting and exits. The magistrates claimed that Mr Penprase has put his tenant’s lives at risk by neglecting his responsibilities as a landlord.
After the safety audit, Mr Penprase said that he did not know of the fire safety requirements. Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said that “ignorance of the law is not a defence”.
HMO landlady fined
A landlady of a HMO in Headingley has been ordered to pay £14,000 after being found guilty of 6 violations of the HMO fire safety code.
The breaches were not discovered until a fire broke out in the building and the fire alarms failed to go off. Mrs Anwar claims that due to poor health she had been unable to maintain the fire alarms and had not managed to arrange for someone else to do this for her.
Ms Anwar put her tenants in danger by not providing adequate fire escapes and failing to maintain the fire alarms in the building.
High street store guilty of fire safety breaches
After a serious fire at Oxford Street fashion store ‘New Look’, the company was ordered to pay fines of £400,000 and £136,000 in costs. Over 150 fire fighters attended the fire which broke out on 26th April 2007.
No one was injured in the fire but over 450 people had to be evacuated from the store and neighbouring buildings. A large section of Oxford Street had to remain closed for 2 days after the blaze causing major disruption for businesses.
An investigation into the fire showed that the company had breached a number of fire safety regulations, including failing to provide an adequate fire risk assessment.
New Look pleaded guilty to 2 of the charges brought against them but appealed the sentence. The appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. The Court said “We accept that the sentencing judge was intending to impose a fine which reflected the seriousness of the offence in its creation of the risks to visitors. The magnitude of that risk was demonstrated, not by a death or serious injury but by a fire in which death or serious injury was fortuitously avoided”.
Norwich Landlord jailed after horrific fire
A woman has suffered 80% burns covering most of her body after a fire broke out in her bedsit on 14th April 2009. Ms Skalli was not able to escape from the fire because her windows would only open 4 inches and the only other exit was blocked by thick smoke. Tenants from neighbouring bedsits were rescued by fire fighters or had to climb down drainpipes to escape the burning building.
Doctors thought it was unlikely that Ms Skalli would survive, and John Claxton from the HSE said “This is the most distressing case I have worked on during my 31 years as an HSE inspector”.
Mr Billings, landlord of a number of adjoining bedsits had failed to provide working fire alarms or sufficient escape routes. He had also neglected to have the gas appliances in the properties serviced and inspected.
After a joint prosecution by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service and the Health and Safety Executive, the Norwich landlord pleaded guilty to a string of serious health and safety, fire safety and gas safety offences.
Mr Billings was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court and will now serve two and a half years in prison.