Plymouth landlord puts tenants’ lives at risk

A landlord from Plymouth has been sentenced after gas appliances at his rental property in Plymouth were found to be ‘Immediately Dangerous’.

Plymouth Crown Court heard how the gas appliances in the property on Laira Street were worked on by someone who was not registered with the Gas Safe Register.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Lokendra Khadka had failed to ever have gas appliances checked for safety at his rental property. Further, he had arranged for a person to make alterations to a gas boiler flue and that person had left it in an extremely dangerous state.

Mr Khadka was unable to provide any details to HSE or to Plymouth Crown Court on who did this work on the gas boiler flue for him.

Lokendra Kumar Khadka of Albert Road, Plymouth, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 36 (3)(a) and 36(4) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He has been sentenced to 15 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months and ordered to pay costs of £4,904.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Simon Jones said: “Mr Khadka put his tenants and their children at a very real risk of death from the gas work he arranged at his rental property, done by someone who was not competent to do it safely.

“Landlords must ensure they only use Gas Safe Register installers to work on gas appliances at their tenanted properties.

“Further, landlord’s must ensure that gas appliances at their tenanted properties are checked for safety at least every 12 months”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. hse.gov.uk
   
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk
   
4. Further information about gas safety can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/