9^th Dec 2018

A landlord who was known as the “country’s worst landlord”, has over the past few years been hit with more than £140,000 in fines, and still owes more than £100,000 for 60 convictions in breach of housing regulations.

The sixty eight year old landlord Katia Goremsandu has built up £143,709.12 in housing regulation fines for gross negligence such as unsafe fire alarms and tenants having to live in her properties without any heating. However she has only paid £40,345.50 of the fines.

The court has stated that it has been agreed for the rogue landlord to pay off the remainder of £100,000 in fines at a monthly rate of £1,000.

This will take Goremsandu a total of nine years to clear the fines.

It was estimated by Haringey council in 2014 that the landlord's yearly income was in the region of £188,000 a year, with a good contribution coming from housing benefit payments.

However at the court appearance in 2017, the landlord handed the court papers stating her annual rental income was in fact £109,200.

Joe Beswick, head of housing at the New Economics Foundation think tank, said: “Until we introduce real protections for tenants, and proper means of enforcement, landlords like Goremsandu will continue to operate like this.

“The fact that Goremsandu is able to continue earning huge sums annually despite gross malpractice is a clear example of the imbalance of power in our housing system. Landlords are reaping enormous financial rewards, benefiting from limited regulation and toothless enforcement, while tenants can be evicted without fault with just two months’ notice.”



News Archive »