A lettings company has been fined £66,500 after housing officers visited a ‘dirty’ HMO it managed.
London-based AM PM Estates, which has glowing reviews of its HMO and property management track record on its website, was looking after the six-bedroom house in Slough on behalf of a landlord when the property was visited by officers from the local council during June 2023 following complaints.
They found the Bath Road property (pictured) to be dirty and a kitchen featuring a smoke alarm covered with a sock, bicycles blocking fire escape routes and a front door lock that was ‘repeatedly broken’.
This enabled strangers to access the house, which added to the ongoing anti-social behaviour by residents, it is claimed.
After AM PM Estates was contacted by the council, the company said it was making regular inspection visits and responding to disrepair reports, but subsequent visits by officers found no improvement other than a fixed front door lock and reset fire alarm.
Slough council subsequently reported the company for ten offences under the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006.
These covered in the main the property’s poor state of repair including its common areas, rooms and even the garden, as well as “failing to keep means of escape from fire clear from obstructions”.
They now must pay a hefty penalty, which I hope will teach them a lesson
Last year AM PM Estates was issued with a civil penalty of £77,925 but this was reduced on appeal to £66,550. All necessary repairs to the property have now been completed but AM PM Estates is no longer managing it.
Councillor Ejaz Ahmed (pictured), lead member for Communities, Sport, Leisure and Public Protection, says: “During the investigation, this company was given numerous opportunities to take steps to bring the property back into compliance with the management regulations, but failed to do so.
“They failed to provide the service they were legally responsible for, leaving tenants living in poor and unsafe conditions. They now must pay a hefty penalty, which I hope will teach them a lesson and ensure they fulfil the service landlords pay them to do in future.”
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