A rogue landlord has been handed a hefty fine for renting out a house which endangered the lives of five tenants.

Maria Rosa De Simone Ramjohn of Marston Street, East Oxford, received a £17,500 fine from Oxford magistrates after she admitted breaching housing regulations for a property which required emergency repairs to make it safe.

She was also ordered to pay £392.45 in legal costs.

When city council environmental health officers visited the house in Annersley Road, Rose Hill, in March, they discovered the kitchen ceiling had partially fallen down due to water penetration, and two ceiling joists were badly rotted.

The house was in such a bad state that an officer had to call a builder to carry out urgent repairs.

Other problems included a hole in the floor, a faulty smoke alarm and leaks from the supply pipes to the toilet and hand basin, and to and from the bath.

The discovery came after the city's environmental health department received a call from an unhappy tenant.

The conviction is the second by the council since it pledged a crackdown on rogue landlords in July.

Public health team manager Ian Wright said: "Hopefully by now landlords in Oxford will have got the message loud and clear that it is unacceptable to profit from renting out unsafe houses.

"Conditions were so bad we had to take emergency action and get our own builders in to make the property safe.

"Landlords should not allow their houses get into such a poor, neglected state."

Ed Turner, the council's executive member for housing said: "This is another large fine from the courts which reflects the seriousness of the case."