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A property website has apologised for using a picture of Auschwitz concentration camp on a story about government plans to ban criminal landlords.

Property118.com, who call themselves "The Landlords Union", used the offensive image on the story which was published on December 29.

It was also tweeted from the @Property118 Twitter account, which has almost 13,000 followers, the same day.

From April 2018 any landlord convicted for the offences of blackmail, theft, handling stolen good, harassment and stalking will automatically be banned from letting out property.

(Image: The Landlords Union/Twitter) (Image: WENN.com)

(Image: The Landlords Union/Twitter)

The image originally appeared in the linked article but has now been replaced.

The tweet was slammed by other Twitter users.

Nigel Underwood replied: "Disgusting use of this photograph. I suggest you go and visit Auschwitz you then might realise how inappropriate this picture is."

Simon Bell replied: "Using this photo is totally disrespectful to the suffering that occurred at Auschwitz.

"It has no relevance to the article."

Another Twitter user, called Robin McNamara, said the tweet had been reported to Twitter.

@Pobble8 said: "How dare you use that photo to illustrate an article on HMO regulations. As if it's remotely in the same league."

Richard Stone tweeted: "So the article is about Houses of Multiple Occupation and some bright spark thought that putting a picture of Auschwitz next to it was (a) a good idea & (b) not offensive. Unbelievable!!!"

(Image: Getty)

This morning Property118.com issued an apology on their website.

However, when they tweeted a link to the apology they used the same picture of Auscwitz again sparking more complaints.

Author of the story Neil Patterson said: "When looking for a featured image to add to the article I searched for the keyword Prison on the Pexels stock images website.

"I had no idea that the image I selected was one of Auschwitz and I certainly didn’t intend to offend the memorial or indeed anybody else.

"The image I used is the same one as used in this article.

"I sincerely apologies for any offense caused and have now changed the image on the article that caused offense.

"I have also made a donation to the Auschwitz Memorial."

He says that Twitter have decided to take no action against the account.

The Landlords Union says it specialises in landlord tax and shares best practice among UK landlords.