A ROGUE landlord has pleaded guilty to 45 charges relating to properties he owned in Wirral.

In a prosecution brought by Wirral Council under the Housing Act 2004, Gary Fixter from Chester was fined £32,000 and ordered to pay £13,611.60 costs after admitting the offences at a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court.

The offences involved failing to comply with improvement notices, breaches of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) management regulations and failing to produce documents upon request.

They related to his ownership and management of two HMOs, one on Alexandra Road in Birkenhead, the other on Rake Lane in Wallasey and a self-contained flat on Grange Road, West Kirby.

The improvement notices were served after inspections were carried out by Wirral Council's Housing Standards Team who found each property in serious disrepair coupled with inadequate property management which had put tenants at risk for a number of years.

The council officers found a variety of defects or hazards which rendered most of the living conditions unacceptable and posed a risk to the health and safety of the tenants.

The most serious hazards uncovered by the inspection included longstanding penetrating dampness, defective fire alarm systems placing the occupants lives at risk by compromising their ability to escape the building in the event of a fire and dangerous and untested electrical installations requiring substantial works to make them safe.

This was the second time Fixter had been prosecuted by a local authority.

Two years ago he was prosecuted at Scarborough Magistrates Court for previous breaches of the HMO regulations.