19th June 2009
A landlord who changed the locks on his tenants and cut off their heating during the winter has been fined £1,200.
Local GP Dr Anthony Ojo, of Clegg Square, Milton Keynes tried to illegally evict tenants from his property in Oldbrook in February during the snowy weather that affected much of the country.
Milton Keynes Council was called in after tenants made a complaint to the housing department.
EHO Garry Wallace said: ‘I visited the property and carried out emergency remedial action to reinstate the sabotaged electricity supply, while Transco reconnected the gas supply. The council housing department had the locks re-changed and supplied the tenants with fresh door keys.’
It also transpired that Dr Ojo had not registered the property as an HMO. Andrea Vincent, homelessness officer, said: ‘This is a criminal offence and bad enough on its own, but we also then discovered that this landlord, a GP, was operating this HMO without a licence.’
A prosecution was brought to Milton Keynes magistrates court last month. Dr Ojo pleaded guilty and was fined £1,000 for failing to license the HMO and £200 for ‘acts calculated to interfere with the peace and comfort of the residential occupier’. He was also ordered to pay the council’s costs of £1,196.00.
Dr Ojo has paid the council back the money that was spent on emergency remedial works.