A MAN who sublet a property he was renting from a relative to seven people has been fined nearly £3,500.

Mohammed Usman, 61, was prosecuted after Oxford City Council found that he had sublet the house he rented from his nephew in St Martin’s Road to seven other people.

By so doing, he had turned the property into an house in multiple occupation (HMO) without having applied for an HMO licence. The house was also in a poor state of disrepair.

The council’s HMO enforcement team visited the property in October 2013, following information that the house was overcrowded. The team also found that eight people lived there and Mr Usman had been collecting rent for his own benefit without the owner’s knowledge.

He was convicted of failing to licence an HMO and failing to comply with the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006.

Five breaches of those regulations were found, including a missing front panel on the bath and the underside of the stairs not providing adequate fire separation.

Oxford City Council said Usman pleaded guilty to the charges when he appeared at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on August 18.

The court imposed a fine of £2,000 and ordered him to pay £1,478 costs.

 

 

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