Sentencing of buy-to-let landlord Judith Wilson

Buy-to-let landlord Judith Wilson was today (11 December) fined £10,000 and ordered to pay legal costs of £14,890.94 at Folkestone Magistrates Court for failing to comply with an enforcement notice issued by Ashford Borough Council ordering her to supply hot water to a disabled tenant.

After finding Judith Wilson guilty at a hearing in November, District Judge Justin Barron had ordered her to return to court for sentencing and made a financial circumstances order under Section 162 of the Criminal Justice Act that required her to disclose in court documents that evidence all bank accounts, both individual and joint, plus all assets.

In addition to the fine, Judge Barron ordered Judith Wilson to pay Ashford Borough Council's legal costs in full. She has eight weeks to pay. 

Welcoming the sentencing, a spokesman for Ashford Borough Council said the case is a powerful reminder to private sector landlords that there will be serious consequences if they fail to deal fairly with their tenants.

"This successful prosecution shows that we have teeth and we are not afraid to fight for the rights of tenants. What a lot of private sector tenants don't realise is that if they have trouble with their landlord they can come to us for help.

"Ashford Borough Council champions the rights of tenants and we make sure that landlords remain accountable and live up to their responsibilities under the law. If they don't then there are consequences.

"In this case we did everything we could to resolve the situation. We gave Mrs Wilson every opportunity to find a solution to the problem but we were ignored. In the end, we realised that the only way to get justice for the tenants involved was to prosecute."

Background

On 16 November Ashford Borough Council issued the following press release:

Ashford Borough Council has successfully prosecuted buy-to-let property landlord Judith Wilson for failing to comply with an enforcement notice ordering her to supply hot water to a disabled tenant.

Mrs Wilson - who in court confirmed that she was the landlady of around 300 properties - had denied the charge but was found guilty by District Judge Justin Barron following a two-day hearing at Folkestone Magistrates Court.

The prosecution case centred on an allegation that Mrs Wilson was the owner of a tenanted property at 17 Emperor Way, Ashford which had ongoing problems with its hot water and heating system that led to Ashford Borough Council serving an enforcement notice requiring that the defects be remedied. The Council told the court that Mrs Wilson failed to ensure that the defects were remedied within the period allowed by the notice, which led to the authority carrying out the work itself.

In her defence, Mrs Wilson claimed she had "a reasonable excuse" for failing to comply with the notice - namely that the damage to the boiler and heating system was caused by the tenants or their agents; that she was not permitted access to the premises; she had insufficient time to complete the work; and she reasonably relied on the Council to carry out the repair itself.

During the trial, Judge Barron heard prosecution evidence from two gas heating contractors, the tenants Mr and Mrs Manser and a council officer. Mr Manser is a wheelchair user. For the defence, evidence was given by a maintenance man, Mrs Judith Wilson and her husband Fergus Wilson.

In delivering his verdict, Judge Barron said that the defendant had "every opportunity to resolve the issues but Mr Wilson was consistently difficult and stubbornly refused to make any genuine commitment to the Council to get the work carried out".

He added: "The Wilsons have shrewdly built up what can best be described as a property empire. They know very well that there is no duty on the Council to carry out repairs on their behalf and then bill them for the work. As owners of around 300 properties it is entirely reasonable to expect them to have arrangements in place to enable this type of issue to be dealt with promptly.

"Taking into account the evidence... I find that Mr and Mrs Wilson could have had the work carried out within the period allowed by the abatement notice but chose not to. In this case those were not the actions of responsible landlords," concluded Judge Barron.

Cllr Gerald White, portfolio holder for housing, said that Ashford Borough Council always aims to work in partnership with landlords and he was pleased to hear that Judge Barron acknowledged this in his judgement when he said: ‘I accept the evidence of Mr Watts (senior environmental health officer) that he wanted to resolve the matter amicably and without resorting to enforcement action. He had better things to do with his time than get involved in this dispute - I understand his frustration'.

ENDS

Issued on behalf of Ashford Borough council

Darren Laws
Public relations
01634 671167
07958 304375
Darren.laws@zesttheagency.com

www.ashford.gov.uk