Rogue landlord fined for fire failings

On 1 March, officers from Birmingham City Council’s private rented services team visited the property in in Oval Road, Erdington with West Midlands Police to assess if the property required an HMO licence and to check on the condition of the property. They met five of the 12 people living there and found that the property was in a neglected state of repair.

When officers returning the following morning, they found that the fire alarm panel was not working and there were no fire blankets in the main kitchen or the kitchen in the ground floor middle self-contained flat. Smoke detectors and fire doors throughout the building also had defects.

Officers asked the property owner Jabbar Khalid and his father to attend for interview on 24 March but they said they couldn’t attend. The interview was rearranged to 11 April and Khalid attended. During the interview, Khalid admitted that when he first took over responsibility for the property – it used to belong to his father – he went to the property regularly but that he didn’t care anymore.

Khalid appeared at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 14 September and admitted multiple breaches to management regulations. It was fined £1,800 and ordered to pau £2,000 in costs. 

Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for housing and homes councilor Peter Griffiths said: “Khalid admitted to my officers that he didn’t care about the property and he did not take any responsibility for ensuring the safety and comfort of his tenants.  

“The list of defects at the property goes on and on and the pictures officers took confirm that the property offered little more than a roof over the tenants’ heads. 

“I am appalled by the conditions that his tenants had to endure and I am extremely pleased that we have been able to successfully prosecute another rogue landlord through our specialist work.”