Housing experts call for tougher penalites after list shows fines for providing destitute quality or unlicensed homes amount to fraction of rental incomeA landlord who used a sticker to disguise a faulty fire alarm and left tenants living in damp and freezing homes,despite council warnings, tops a list of letting agents and landlords who have been convicted for housing offences. Katia Goremsandu, and who owns several rental properties in Haringey,north London, has been convicted seven times and fined a total of £16565 for letting uninhabitable rooms. Haringey council estimates that her rental income is around £188000 a year, or including housing benefit payments. She told the Guardian she was being “victimised and harassed” by the council,adding that she was at the heart of “a war between the landlords and the tenants … who begrudge the fact that we have property”.
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Source: theguardian.com