Landlords Face Huge Fines Amid Legal Battles

Wolverhampton Council’s £220,000 pursuit through the courts of rogue landlord and letting agent Bhavander Sanghera has landed him with massive fines that are unlikely to be paid.

Sanghera was ordered to pay £10,000 in costs and his letting agency fines and costs of £40,100 for twice threatening to evict a tenant who complained that they had been tricked into paying their neighbour’s gas and electricity bills.

But Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Sanghera was unemployed and on benefits, and his letting business, EBS Property, had gone into liquidation and could not be chased to pay the penalties.

The agency pleaded guilty to two counts of unfair business practices and two of aggressive commercial practices.

The court was told the tenant eavesdropped a conversation between a neighbour and meter reader and realised the energy suppliers of the two homes were connected. Unwittingly, the tenant had paid the neighbour’s bills for over five years.

The renter complained to Sanghera and the letting agent, of which he was the sole director. Still, Sanghera ignored the protests and retaliated with two eviction notices after the tenant asked Wolverhampton Council to intervene.

In separate cases, Sanghera was disqualified as a director until 2030 after being jailed for fraud and unfair trading offences in January 2023.

Letting agent opened empty flats for drug gang

Letting agent, Natalie Child helped a drugs gang sell and store cocaine in empty flats marketed by the firm she worked for.

Police arrested one of the gang with a key to an empty flat and found a 1.2-kilo brick of the drug valued at about £30,000 inside. While detectives were there, Child let herself in and admitted she helped the gang in return for £500 cash.

Child, 33, from Margate, Kent, admitted her part in the crime at Canterbury Crown Court. She received a 12-month community order and must complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

Detective Constable Aaron Chapman said: “Child claims that while she suspected the flats were used for crime, she did not know the gang was selling cocaine. However, ignorance is not an excuse, and she played a key role in allowing these serious offences to be committed.”

Fines for ignoring improvement notices

Landlord Anthony Hall must pay fines and costs totalling almost £7,000 for ignoring improvement notices, which ordered him to carry out urgent repairs on three rental homes in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

Housing officers checked one home for rent and issued a notice for repairs to stair handrails, poorly maintained windows and external walls and electrical faults.

The notice was ignored, so the council inspected two other rental properties in the town owned by Hall and found similar problems. Two more improvement notices were issued.

Hall admitted ignoring the council notices at South Tyneside Magistrates Court. He was fined £1,115 for the faults at each rental property and ordered to pay a £446 victim surcharge and £3,200 costs.