A property manager has been ordered to pay-up nearly £11,000 for operating an unsafe and unlicensed HMO property in Newport.

Vadims Kapustinskis appeared before Gwent Magistrates Court on Friday, April 8, charged with nine housing offences.

All charges related to a house in multiple occupation – better known as a HMO, on Baldwin Street, in the Pill area of the city.

Kapustinskis, of Queen Street, Avonmouth, Bristol, initially pleaded not guilty to eight charges earlier in the year, before changing his pleas to guilty last week.

The court heard that there was a myriad of issues relating to the management of the HMO property in the city, a number of which were found to have put its residents at risk.

All nine offences relate to an inspection by Newport City Council on May 21, 2021.

Firstly, the property was found to have not been licensed for use as an HMO property. HMOs have to registed with the local council, in accordance with the Housing Act 2004.

Kapustinskis was found to have “failed to ensure all means of escape from fire were maintained in good order and repair”.

It was also determined that the fire exits were not kept free from obstructions.

Conditions inside the property were also found to be such that Kapustinskis failed to ensure that occupiers were not being reasonably protected from injury, due to issues with the structural condition of the property.

This also included parts of the property used as living accommodation, where internal structure was found to be lacking in terms of being maintained in good repair.

No regard was found to have been given to the number of people occupying the house.

The court also heard that no bars or other safeguarding measures were provided to windows on or near the ground level, which put occupiers at risk.

Finally, Kapustinskis was found to have been acting on behalf of the landlord, carrying out property management – without a licence to do so.

Kapustinskis’s guilty pleas were taken into account, but was issued with a series of fines.

All told, he has been required to pay £6,500 in fines for his actions.

He has also been ordered to pay £4,172 in costs, and a £190 surcharge to fund victim services.

Kapustinskis is not the only person hauled before the courts over HMOs in Newport in recent times.

In November Jalil Miah was fined more than £4,000 for a number of offences.

And the previous month, property company Clearsprings Ready Homes was fined a total of £60,000 after being convicted of a number of offences, including operating a HMO without a licence.