A landlord has been fined after a faulty gas boiler endangered the lives of tenants at a flat in Plymouth.

Abdul Manik, 54, of Lockington Avenue, Plymouth pleaded guilty to breaches of Regulations 36(2) and 36(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, and Section 33(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

He was fined £20,000 with over £2,800 in costs.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) began their investigation after Plymouth City Council alerted the monitor to the lack of gas safety certificates for a number of flats at Meadfoot Terrace.

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The council had asked Mr Manik to provide certificates on seven seperate occasions.

HSE served an Improvement Notice to Mr Manik, requiring him to undertake landlords' gas safety check and maintenance. However, this had not been down by the notice expiry date.

Eventually, a gas engineer was called in by one of the tenants at the flats in December 2014.

He found serious problems with the gas boiler and notified HSE. The boiler was classified as 'immediately dangerous', meaning it could cause a clear danger to life or property.

The council replaced the boiler after Mr Manik failed to undertaken the necessary repairs.

HSE Inspector, Simon Jones, said: "Landlords have a legal duty to carry out gas safety checks and maintenance which are there to protect their tenants from death or injury.

"In this case, Mr Manik ignored repeated requests to carry out the checks and as a result, a serious fault with the gas boiler at one of the flats undetected until discovered by an engineer."

(LM)