The prosecution followed a fire in March 2007 at a house converted into bedsits.

The landlords were sentenced at a Crown Court in early June 2009, after pleading guilty to several breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. These included inadequate fire detection systems, a lack of proper fire doors for bedrooms or for the communal kitchen, no emergency lighting in the building’s stairway, a lack of firefighting equipment such as a fire extinguisher or fire blankets, and no fire risk assessment available for inspection.

A further inspection was arranged where an enforcement notice was issued, explaining that the breaches needed to be dealt with. But after further contact with the co-owners and further inspections over a number of months, inspecting officers found that no remedial work had been completed.

This is the second prosecution resulting in a custodial sentence that the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority have led. Following the hearing the chairman of the authority stated “Our role is to keep Londoners safe, and where we see that you are not taking your legal fire safety responsibilities seriously, we will take action.”