Landlord defies danger flats ban

by Malcolm Prior
Inside Out, BBC South

Mr Mincham was secretly filmed trying to let the flats

A landlord has been caught on camera illegally letting out flats that had been closed down after a fatal fire.

Despite two men's deaths in 2004, Christopher Mincham failed to install a working fire alarm in his property on Hayling Island, Hampshire.

BBC South's Inside Out secretly filmed Mr Mincham showing prospective tenants around the flats despite a closure order taken out by the local council.

The landlord insists that his properties are in good condition.

Yet Havant Borough Council decided to use the court order to shut down number 39, Norfolk Crescent, this summer because of the danger to tenants.

Having been shown the footage of Mr Mincham later defying the court order, the council has vowed to stop him from continuing to rent out the property.

Mr Todd was concerned by the amount of combustible material

Councillor David Collins, the council's executive member for the environment, said: "Showing people around to rent a property that has a closure order on it is wrong.

"As such our other partners, the fire service particularly and the police, will be consulted and the relevant action will be taken.

"We have tried our very best to make the property safe and as such Mr Mincham has resisted us all down the line in so much as he hasn't put a fire alarm system in yet."

In August 2004, tenants Tony Handley and Nigel Claridge died when a fire broke out on a landing in the seafront flats which did not have a working fire alarm.

Returning an open verdict at their inquests in January this year, coroner David Horsley heavily criticised the continued lack of fire safety precautions and called for the flats to be closed.

It falls far short of what we would expect for houses of multiple occupation Colin Todd, fire safety expert

He said conditions at the property were still the same as when the fire broke out and Mr Mincham had failed to cooperate with the authorities in carrying out the needed safety work.

Inside Out took Colin Todd, an independent fire safety expert, around the building before it was closed by the council to give his verdict.

He found there was still no working fire alarm and that a large amount of combustible material had been left lying around.

"It falls far short of what we would expect for houses of multiple occupation (HMO's)," he said.

"Statistically, if you spend one night in an HMO you are about nine times more likely to die from fire than if you spent one night in a single family dwelling and therefore there is a need to provide additional fire precautions."

Mr Mincham advertised the flats in the Portsmouth News

Tenant David Leeming, who moved in last November, said of the broken fire alarm: "Obviously it does not work. There's no fire protection."

Havant Borough Council had been trying to close the building down since the inquest but a legal challenge by Mr Mincham - a former Tory councillor - delayed the closure by six months.

Finally in July, the closure notice was served and Mr Mincham was banned from renting out the flats.

But just under a month later an advert appeared in a local paper offering a flat to rent.

A visit by undercover reporters found the flat was at 39 Norfolk Crescent where the numbers on the door had been switched to 93.

Mr Mincham offered to let out the flat despite the closure order and without having installed a working fire alarm in the block.

Mr Mincham, whose flats at number 35 Norfolk Crescent have also now been closed, has since claimed that it was BBC reporters who dismantled the fire alarm and deliberately scattered clothing around the building to make it appear in poor condition.