A landlord has lost his fight to be able to hold a licence to rent properties again after a tribunal found he wasn’t a “fit and proper” landlord.
Derrick Morgan appealed to the Residential Property Tribunal after Rent Smart Wales (RSW) refused to grant him a landlord licence.
However, the tribunal has now dismissed his appeal, meaning he will not be able to rent properties.
The decision by the Residential Property Tribunal stated,
“The concerns related to a number of complaints that had been received by NPT concerning the applicant and which related to the poor condition of his properties and allegations of illegal eviction of tenants.”
The report said,
“It appears as though NPT had obtained a county court warrant permitting them to gain access to the site and that the inspection was part of a multi-agency initiative. Police officers were also in attendance at the visit. The Applicant had not been given advance notice of the visit.”
Rent Smart Wales wrote to Mr Morgan to notify him that his application for a licence had been refused because of “the condition of his properties, the management practices which he employed, the nature of his spent convictions and his association with his son, Ryan Morgan, who had unspent convictions.”
Mr Morgan, 60, appealed against that decision and the tribunal listed the matter for hearing and inspection for January, 2019.
During the inspection the tribunal was shown a number of properties on the site operated by Mr Morgan.
the report said, “It was clear from the inspection that several of the properties were in the process of having work carried out to them. In all save one property, there was no evidence at all that the properties were occupied. However, it was clear that the properties were not of a high standard.”
The tribunal report added, “When asked what types of tenant he housed, Mr Morgan replied that they were all in dire straits when they came to him.
“They were homeless, sleeping on park benches or had come to him via government units. He referred to them as being a ‘low class type of tenant’.”
