30^th Mar 2018

Brent Council has successfully prosecuted a Brent landlord company after it had failed to resolve the anti social 'pigeon behaviour' in one of its rental properties.

The council received numerous complaints from the tenants living in the property of being constantly awakened by the noisy pigeons nesting in the roof.

The Landlord Company which owns the property was given a hefty fine after the couple who lived there were woken up each morning at 4am by the birds' constant cooing. The company will also have to pay the couple £7,638 in compensation.

Brent council started their investigation into the property after receiving a complaint from the tenants about the pigeon infested loft as well as a water leak in the ceiling. The landlord company did carry out some repairs but overall failed to resolve the issues. As the company had failed to comply with the councils follow up notices regarding the problems, it was ordered to pay fines amounting to £31,026.

The trial took place on March 20th at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on March 20th, whereupon the landlord company was found guilty of not carrying out the necessary maintenance work to resolve the issues as instructed in the improvement notice issued by the council. The council was ordered to pay a £12,200 fine as well as £5,648 in costs plus a £170 victim surcharge. The manager was also fined £6,100 and ordered to pay £7,638 compensation to the tenants for the considerable nuisance caused by the pigeons.

Spencer Randolph, Brent's Head of Private Housing Services, Spencer Randolph, spoke about the council's decision to prosecute the landlords, and said:"Landlords are expected to maintain the properties that they rent out. Tenants in the private rented sector have a legal right to decent living conditions. We will prosecute landlords and letting agencies that fail to comply with improvement notices. This landlord had plenty of opportunities to carry out the repairs but ignored our requests."


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