Two tenants who were warned their belongings would be thrown out if they didn’t keep an HMO tidy have had £16,377 in rent returned.

Their landlord Ahmed El Hamoudi was handed the rent repayment order after a First Tier Property Tribunal heard his six-bedroom property in Printers Mews, London, was unsafe and unlicensed.

The landlord claimed to have just been letting out rooms in his home, but the property was clearly set up as a commercial HMO, with numbers on the bedroom doors and suitable communal facilities. El Hamoudi admitted that while he was aware of HMO licensing, he thought it was only for instances of overcrowding or poor housing conditions.

The judge said: “Being vaguely ill-informed, even if well-intentioned, does not get anywhere near to a reasonable excuse.”

Inspection

After an inspection, a Tower Hamlets housing officer reported there were no fire doors, or smoke alarms in the bedrooms while fire alarms and smoke alarms were not interlinked and the bedrooms’ internal doors were key operated.

The tenants also complained that gas and electricity safety certificates were not provided or displayed and that their deposits weren't protected. They said the tenancy agreements were expressed to be ‘sharers’ agreements’, possibly intended to deprive them of their rights.

Agent

The landlord’s agent, Sam Hasanagic, who lived in one of the rooms, appeared to have no professional qualifications or knowledge and engaged in inappropriate behaviour such as cutting off electricity and threatening to throw away tenants’ belongings if he felt they were not keeping to the requisite standard of cleanliness in the common areas. The agent - on behalf of the landlord - tried to increase the rent without going through the proper process.

The judge added: “At best, the respondent has been careless about his obligations as a landlord. The fire safety breaches in particular are concerning – the fact that he got lucky and no fire incident occurred is not a point in his favour.”

The rent repayment order was set at 80% of the maximum amounts.

Photo: Google

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