Landlady banned for a decade

Reports were first made about Hatfield-based landlady Mrs Goldsmith in 2016, and it was soon discovered she was housing six people in one room, while three additional tenants were living in rooms in the loft space, which was being accessed via a ladder.

When officers inspected the building, they found there were no smoke alarms or fire doors and the means of escape in the event of a fire were unsatisfactory.

Electric heaters in the overcrowded rooms were also an added fire risk. 

Herts Fire and Rescue served a prohibition notice prohibiting the use of loft space from sleeping people, but despite this there were further complaints a few months later after building work left a hole in a tenant's room. The hole was covered with a wardrobe, but this breached fire safety regulations as there was a compromise to the 30 minutes fire separation between bedrooms.

The landlady said that she was suffering from mental health issue, so the council decided not to prosecute. An out of court settlement was reached at Mrs Goldsmith has been banned from engaging in managing rented properties in England or Wales for 10 years.