Landlord Prosecution

THE landlords of a property converted into three flats in Carmarthen’s King Street have been prosecuted for three offences under section 30 of the Housing Act 2004.

Geoffrey and Mavis Bran, of Bryn Tawel, Hermon, Cynwyl Elfed, pleaded guilty at

Llanelli Magistrates Court to three offences each under section30 of the Housing Act 2004. The prosecution was brought by Carmarthenshire County Council and the defendants pleaded guilty to the offences.

The court was told that an inspection by an environmental health officer led to defects being noted in the communal areas and in two of the three flats. The defects included excess cold problems, lack of heating and fire safety issues.

Initially, the officer gave the landlords the opportunity to do the works informally which they failed to do. This resulted in Improvement Notices being served under the Housing Act 2004, but unfortunately majority of the works were not carried out.

Their defence for not undertaking the necessary works was that they did not have the finances to do so.

Mr and Mrs Bran were sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge and were ordered to pay costs of £228.43 each and a victim surcharge of £15 each.

Carmarthenshire County Council executive board member for housing Cllr Tegwen Devichand said: “This case shows that the council will prosecute when landlords are ordered to carry out improvements to their properties and fail to do so.

“The court decided to give Mr and Mrs Bran an opportunity to comply with the notice in timescales that we see fit and that if they fail to do this then a further prosecution would see hefty fines.”