A LANDLORD who dumped all of his tenant’s belongings in a garden shed was ordered to pay more than £6,000 in fines, compensation and costs.

Saimir Selita, 33, rented out a house in Ladenham Road, Blackbird Leys, to BMW worker Dariusz Kocaba.

The court heard Selita ordered the property to be “totally gutted” by builders when Mr Kocaba was away visiting his family in Poland in February 2014.

He came back to find all of the house’s fixtures and fittings, including kitchen cabinets, bathroom fittings, flooring and most of the doors inside the house, had been removed.

As well as the house being “totally uninhabitable,” the court heard Mr Kocaba’s personal possessions had been taken from his locked bedroom and put in a leaking garden shed, damaging them beyond repair. He had to miss his next two shifts at BMW to arrange emergency accommodation and find somewhere else to live.

Oxford City Council launched an investigation into the incident after Mr Kocaba contacted the environmental development service.

Selita, of Marryatt Court, Green Vale, London, pleaded guilty to harassing Mr Kocaba and was sentenced at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on January 19.

He was fined £1,800, ordered to pay £3,070 in compensation to Mr Kocaba, ordered to pay £1,260 in costs and a victims’ surcharge of £120.

Board member for finance, asset management and public health Ed Turner said: “This sort of harassment of tenants should have no place in today’s society and it is good that this outrageous behaviour by the landlord has been brought to book.

“The stiff fine and compensation order should send a powerful message to any landlord that tenants’ rights, and the law, must be respected.”

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