An Oxford landlord has been fined £2,500 over the filthy and dangerous state of a house she was letting out.

Joginder Kaur Dhanjal, of Dashwood Road, Rose Hill, admitted five charges relating to safety and hygiene at the shared house she owns in Donnington Bridge Road.

On Friday Oxford Magistrates' Court was told that city council environmental health officers found a multitude of health and safety breaches.

Oven and surfaces in the shared kitchen were in a filthy state and officers discovered that tenants had not had access to the gas supply.

The main fire escape was not properly maintained, while the fire door to the kitchen did not close properly and had a hole in it where the lock had been removed.

Rising damp was found in the bedrooms and bathrooms, while tiles around the bath were uneven and not capable of being effectively cleaned.

A number of windows could not be properly opened or closed.

John Roach, defending, said Dhanjal had been on holiday with her husband in India at the time of the officers' visit.

He said Dhanjal, who appeared in court with a Punjabi translator, had not been properly aware of the responsibilities that came with being a landlord of a multi-occupied house.

Dhanjal lets the property on a word-of-mouth basis, mainly to tenants who were referred by the council and who were claiming benefits.

She said she regularly visited the house and cleaned.

She said she had made an agreement with one of the tenants that he would clean the property while she was abroad for five weeks.

She also claimed the windows had been damaged by tenants, who would break in if they had forgotten their key.

Dhanjal and her family used to live in the house but rented it out after they moved to Rose Hill.

Mr Roach said the house was not part of a property empire and was far from a lucrative enterprise for Dhanjal. In the past year, she had made only £2,862 from it.

Dhanjal was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £400 costs and a victim's surcharge of £15.

One tenant at the house told the Oxford Mail he informed the city council about the state of the property months ago.

David Lloyd, who lives in a bedsit in the Donnington Bridge Road house, claimed it was so filthy his room was over-run by cockroaches. He is pictured with some of the insects he has trapped.

Despite showing evidence of the infestation to environmental health officers, Mr Lloyd claimed they ignored the insect problem.

He said: "I told the council and they sent round environmental health.

"I pointed out all the places where I had seen them.

"I even banged the kettle down and they all shot out the bottom of it.

"But they still say we haven't got a problem. It's horrible. I can't even sit and watch TV, because they're all in the back of that as well. "

Richard Maxwell also lives at the house.

He said: "I can't sleep at night because I'm thinking about them."

A city council spokesman said: "Earlier this year we investigated a report of cockroaches at this address.

"Our pest control officers laid traps at the property but nothing was found.

"We advised him to contact his landlord in the first instance, but to come back to us if this wasn't successful. We're now contacting the tenant to see how we can help."