RLA : RPI : Landlord cleared of manslaughter

News from the Residential Property Investor, the bi-monthly magazine for RLA members

other artilces from the April / May 2001 issue

Landlord cleared of manslaughter - April / May 2001

A landlord has been fined £2,000 after he admitted to two charges of breaching gas safety regulations.

An Old Bailey jury heard that Amanda Rhys-Davies, who worked for the Formula One racing team McLaren, died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a faulty boiler at the Woking flat she shared with her partner, Wayne Court. An engineer for the same team, he was left seriously ill by the incident but has now recovered.

Prosecutor Nigel Lithman told the court that although landlords have a legal duty to ensure their tenants are safe, the boiler at the property owned by Michael Wheeler was in a 'highly dangerous condition'.

The couple, who had only recently begun the tenancy of their 'dream home', lay unfound for three days the court heard.

It was alleged Wheeler and his wife were aware the central heating boiler was in urgent need of repair but had failed to pass the information to the tenants. However, Wheeler was cleared of a manslaughter charge.

In another case a landlord who repeatedly ignored requests by his local authority to provide adequate means of escape and to undertake other necessary repairs to five of his bedsits has been ordered to pay £2,500.

Brent Magistrates' Court was told that Mohammed Cheema ignored calls by his local authority to repair trailing electric cables from the hall ceiling and to replace worn and dirty carpets. Steve Wilson, private housing unit director at the council, said: 'Hopefully this case will encourage landlords to acknowledge their responsibilities to tenants and work in partnership with their local councils'.

Two former police officers turned property managers have been jailed for two years after stealing from tenants.

The two, Anne and Eugene O'Grady, used forged documents to take money from their victims, netting 'thousands of pounds'. Their undoing came when they attempted to forge documents for a flat which Hammersmith and Fulham Council wished to repossess. Anne O'Grady went so far as to go to court to oppose the repossession posing as the wife of the tenant.

* Tracy Ford, Lee Evans and Andrew Evans have been remanded in custody after admitting causing actual bodily harm to Ford's tenant Christopher Cushing who had fallen in arrears with his rent. Cushing had been stripped and thrown out in his underpants after having to pass over his cashpoint card and reveal its PIN number. No money could be withdrawn since the Port Talbot man had insufficient funds.

other artilces from the April / May 2001 issue