Oxford landlords fined for HMO safety breaches
Two landlords from Oxford have been found guilty of breaching licensing and safety regulations.
Mulazim Hussain and Momodu Chune were fined £6,730 and £665 respectively for the safety breaches.
Mr Hussain was the owner of a property used as a house in multiple occupation (HMO) but had failed to inform the local council of this. When an inspection was carried out, officers discovered that there were 10 occupants living in the property.
Many fire safety breaches were discovered at the property including faulty fire doors.
Mr Chune, was charged with similar offences after it was discovered he was leasing a property to seven occupants without the relevant HMO permissions. The smoke alarm in the property was not working and Mr Chune was unable to produce a gas appliance test certificate for the property.
Deputy leader Ed Turner told the Oxford Times: “The majority of landlords do a good professional job but we know in Oxford there is a minority who let their tenants down badly and sometimes put them in danger.”
200 staff evacuated in BMW plant fire
A fire broke out at the BMW Mini plant in Cowley on 13th July.
Around 200 staff were quickly evacuated from the plant in Oxford after a small fire broke out in an air conditioning unit on the top of a building on site.
Firefighters from Rewley Road and Slade and Abingdon fire stations arrived at the scene at around 5.30pm on Friday.
Firefighters took around one hour to extinguish the fire.
Wayne Morse from BMW said: “Once the all-clear was given, the work force in that area returned.”
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states that you:
‘must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to which relevant persons are exposed’
This means that all companies as a first point in their Fire Safety must complete a Fire Risk Assessment. This must be carried out by a competent person, who is trained to perform risk assessments.