A landlord who did not repair a decaying former hotel has been fined £14,900.
Teeside Magistrates’ Court found Rajesh Kumar Gupta guilty of failing to repair roofing and guttering at the former Royal Hotel, in Loftus. He had been ordered to make the repairs repetitively by Redcar and Cleveland Council.
Gupta did not attend court and was convicted in his absence.
Andrew White, prosecuting on behalf of Redcar and Cleveland Council, said, “He was given ample warning but, unfortunately, it did not have the desired effect.”
Gupta was ordered to repair or replace the guttering and the boarding on the windows. He was further told to paint the boards to match the colour of the building, replace missing roof and ridge tiles, remove waste, litter and vegetation from the land, replace the main door frame and steps and repair all the window sills.
Gupta was subsequently ordered to pay the maximum £100 fine for every day he’d failed to carry out the repairs which came to a total of £14,900 with a victim surcharge of £170 and court costs of £408.98 – a total of £15,478,98.
