A ROGUE landlord will have to pay out almost £40,000 for putting his tenants and other residents at risk at a flat in Southampton.

Askar Miah was fined after a court heard his seven-bedroom flat had no working fire alarm and that escape routes were blocked.

Mouse droppings were also found on a cooker that residents were expected to use.

The conviction is part of a city council crackdown on rogue landlords, and has been welcomed by the authority’s housing chief.

Miah, a 52-year-old, of Lingdale, Chilworth, pleaded guilty to four breaches of house of multiple occupation (HMO) management regulations and a failure to obtain a HMO mandatory property licence at Southampton Magistrates’ Court today.

The charges were brought against Miah after an inspection of the seven-bedroom property above the former Junnes restaurant in High Street by environmental health officers.

The flats were divided across three floors and were occupied by at least seven people.

The inspectors found there was no working fire alarm, escape routes were blocked, there was poor structural fire separation and communal areas were dirty and in a poor condition.

Windows were broken, there was a severe damp problem and mouse droppings were found on a dirty and greasy cooker.

The council officers immediately placed a prohibition order on the property forbidding anyone from sleeping at the flat.

The order is still in place.

The court told Miah that he had failed in his duty as a landlord and put both his tenants and people in neighbouring properties at risk.

He was ordered to pay a fine of £36,000, a £15 victim surcharge and £3,815 in costs.