A landlord has been fined over £11,000 for neglecting severe mould issues in his Cardiff flats
Cardiff: A landlord named Sohail Baig has found himself in hot water after being taken to court. He was ordered to cough up over £11,000 due to the awful conditions in one of his properties.
Baig owns 25 properties, but the one on Neville Street was particularly bad. Tenants had been begging him to fix things, like a broken window in a child’s room, but he just ignored them.
The building is a three-storey Victorian structure with three studio flats. When a council officer checked it out, they found the front door was damaged and left open because the intercom was broken. Not a good look!
There were also gaps in the fire doors, which could let a fire spread easily. Plus, one flat was missing a smoke detector. Talk about a safety hazard! The cooking facilities were a mess too, with one oven tripping the electrics and knobs missing from another cooker.
To make matters worse, the flooring was defective, and there were no handrails on the stairs. A broken window in a child’s room and a loose electrical socket in another flat were just the cherry on top.
Back in December 2021, photos showed mould and water stains all over the place. The council issued an improvement notice, but Baig didn’t do anything about it. By August 2022, he was charged for not complying.
In court, Baig claimed he was trying to fix things but said his tenants were making it hard for him. The judge wasn’t buying it. He pointed out that Baig was more concerned about costs than safety, especially when it came to fixing that broken window.
In the end, Baig was fined £5,950, plus costs and a surcharge. He even tried to appeal, but while he won on some counts, he still had to pay more in prosecution costs. It’s a tough lesson for him, but hopefully, it’ll make him think twice about how he treats his tenants.