Two landlords and a letting agent were fined more than £7,000 after students complained about unsafe furniture in their rented homes, writes Andrew Ffrench.

Letting agent Shaukat Kureshi, and landlords Sarwar Hussain and Mujahid Rana all pleaded guilty before Oxford magistrates yesterday to supplying unsafe furniture and a fridge, contrary to the Consumer Protection Act.

Oxfordshire County Council's trading standards department brought the case against the three men after students living in two homes in Percy Street and Cowley Road, Oxford, complained. A sofa and an armchair were set alight in fire safety tests by trading standards officers and both failed. A fridge was also found to have faulty wiring.

Graham Jones, prosecuting for trading standards, said Mr Kureshi, a partner in the Letting Shop, in Cowley Road, was being prosecuted because in law, he was responsible for supplying the faulty goods, even though he did not physically put them in the homes. Mr Jones said: "All three defendants have potentially put tenants and anyone who visited the properties at risk."

Kureshi's solicitor, Jim Astle, said he had originally told his client to plead not guilty but changed his mind after a previous case in Dorset set a precedent in the High Court. Henry Mendus, for the two landlords, said a previous group of tenants were asked to remove one of the sofas from one house but decided to keep it.

Kureshi, of Cowley Road, Oxford, was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,376 costs. Hussain, of Ridgefield Road, Oxford, was fined £1,500 plus £712 and Rana, of Cowley Way, Oxford, was fined £1,500 with £659 costs.

After the case, Mr Jones said the trading standards department had delivered a stern message to other landlords and letting agents in Oxford.

Story date: Friday 23 April

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