Landlord jailed after young couple and baby slept in unsafe rented room

A Cambridgeshire landlord has been jailed for 16 months after he admitted perverting the course of justice and four separate charges of breaking gas safety law.

Mr Istiaq Ahmed, of Green Leys, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, was due to be sentenced for health and safety offences earlier this year when he instructed his counsel to present a ‘Landlord Gas Safety Record’ as part of his mitigation.

Investigations by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the gas safety case, revealed the document to be false - Mr Ahmed had obtained a bogus, back-dated certificate from a local gas engineer.

Mr Ahmed was imprisoned for 16 months. He had already admitted, at an earlier hearing, perverting the course of justice and four charges in breach of Section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Immediately after the case HSE issued a firm warning to all managers of rented properties to ensure they adequately check and maintain gas appliances - or face the risk of prosecution.

HSE Inspector Stephen Manley said: “Anyone responsible for letting a property must ensure gas appliances are maintained and annually tested to ensure that they are in a safe condition and working effectively.

“Gas appliances which have not been properly maintained and are unsafe as a result are likely to produce carbon monoxide, which can kill quickly without warning. Carbon monoxide is particularly dangerous because you can’t see it, taste it or smell it. Around 30 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a lack of effective maintenance of gas appliances – all these deaths could easily be prevented.

“If you choose to become a landlord and enjoy the benefits of the extra income that can bring then you must take your responsibilities towards your tenants seriously.”

When HSE inspectors visited the property in October 2007 they discovered ten defects with the gas appliances. Three of these defects were classified as “immediately dangerous” and three were classified as “at risk”. The defects included two gas leaks and a very poorly maintained open-flued gas fire in a room where a young couple and a baby slept.

Mr Ahmed was charged under Section 33(1)(g) for failing to comply with an Improvement Notice the HSE had earlier served on the landlord, requiring gas safety checks to be carried out. He was also charged with three breaches of Section 33(1)(c), regarding failing to maintain gas appliances, failing to carry out annual safety checks and failing to remove gas appliances from a room used for sleeping.

He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for perverting the course of justice and a further four months, to run consecutively, for failing to comply with an Improvement Notice.

Frequently answered questions on gas safety for landlords can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/faqlandlord.htm.