A ROGUE landlord whose tenants were living in “inhumane” conditions has been charged more than £39,000 in court.

Robert Crow, of 19 Devereux Road, Southend, was sentenced at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court last week and ordered to pay £35,000 in fines and more than £4,000 in costs for 15 breaches of regulations governing Homes of Multiple Occupation (HMOs).

Crow had tenants living in such squalor – with two even living in the back yard under tarpaulin - magistrates described the conditions as “appalling, deplorable, and inhumane” which had “no place in a modern Britain of today.”

Council housing manager Andrew Fiske said: “Our enforcement officer who led the case said it was one of the worst they had seen in their professional career and so this prosecution was vital and is welcomed.

“The police assistance and support was vital, not only in order to gain entry to the property, but also with some of the information that they provided to help with the case, so we would like to thank them for that.

“Mr Crow was served numerous prohibition orders and improvement notices that were flagrantly ignored over a long period of time.

“Whilst we make every effort to develop good working relationships with private landlords, if rules are ignored so blatantly then we must and will take action to keep tenants safe.

“No-one should have to be living in conditions like this, and this has been recognised by the Courts with a large fine that reflects the seriousness of the offences.”

After ignoring numerous warnings from the council and refusing entry to the property, an enforcement officer enacted a warrant on August 20 with five police officers.

To their horror, they found one man sleeping in a bedroom with no windows measuring 90cm by 280cm – or 2.52 square metres – far below the national minimum of 6.5m² and the local Essex bedsit standard of 8.5m². There were also exposed electrical wires hanging out of the wall.

Two people were also living in the rear yard of the property under tarpaulin and next to an Anderson air raid shelter with no obvious signs of sanitation, the corridor leading from the front door to the rear of the flat - which was the main fire escape - was small and cramped with hoarded items including a pool table, two gas canisters and furniture cabinets.

There was a shower cubicle opening straight into the corridor and a separate toilet with no wash hand basin - both were dirty – and at the back of the property there was a shared kitchen for at least five people living in the basement flat and rear yard which was dirty and in a poor state of repair.

It was cluttered with items such as chairs and soft furnishings, there were broken cupboards and drawers, and the amenities within the kitchen were below the local Essex bedsit standards, with officers calculating there was a “very high” likelihood of food poisoning in the next 12 months.

The gas boiler in the basement flat had also been turned off, with no gas safety certificate, and the tenant said no qualified workmen had been to the property to fix it for over a year, while the ground floor flat was filled with personal possessions and furniture.

Due to the amount of items in the flat some of the rooms could not even be entered.