Housing charity, Shelter, says slum landlords are getting away with “nothing more than a slap on the wrist” despite having multiple convictions to their name, which means they can continue running their housing businesses as usual. Campaign group, Generation Rent, agrees:
“Criminal landlords are raking in £5bn in rent a year, so the fines are a drop in the ocean. If we can’t hurt slumlords with fines, they won’t be driven out of the market.”
Britain’s Worst Landlord
To illustrate the problem, a landlord from Haringey, North London, has the dubious distinction of having her name at the top of a list of housing offence convictions. Katia Goremsandu has been convicted seven times for housing offences and fined £16,565. Meanwhile her rental income is estimated at around £188,000 a year, much of which is paid by the government in the form of Housing Benefit.
Goremsandu was prosecuted in 2014 for using a sticker to cover up a warning light on a faulty fire alarm; in 2012 she left her tenants without heating for prolonged periods of time; and in the same year she let out a damp house for more than a year. Despite her numerous convictions, the landlord claims she is being “victimised” by the council and that they should have given her more help to deal with the repairs.
Two landlords from the Midlands also feature highly on the list. They were fined £18,000 for renting a flat with a leaking room, no central heating and dangerous electrics.
Housing Convictions Rising
Housing convictions have risen from one in 2006 to 428 in 2015, with the majority of convictions taking place in east London.
