Southampton Landlord fined £25,000 for Fire Safety breaches.
A landlord of a house of multiple occupation (HMO) was ordered to pay fines and costs of £25,000 after pleading guilty to seven charges relating to inadequate fire safety standards.
Mr Hoskins, owner of a property in Shirley Avenue, Southampton did not have a suitable fire risk assessment for his building and did not have a working fire alarm to warn the tenants if a fire started.
Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service’s Fire Protection Group also discovered a number of fire precaution failures including missing and disabled fire doors as well as combustibles blocking escape routes.
Together these failures made the situation so dangerous that Fire Officers prohibited Mr Hoskins from allowing people to live and sleep in the building.
However, at a subsequent inspection it was found that Mr Hoskins had allowed tenants to remain in his premises, contrary to the Prohibition Notice, exposing them to risk of death or serious injury should a fire start.
In summing up Judge Hope stated that Mr Hoskins had not been fully frank and helpful to the investigating officers and that he had a ‘cavalier attitude to f re safety’.
