Yahoo News Council takes landlord to court in five-year plastic windows row
A property landlord has been hauled before magistrates - in a council dispute over the installation of uPVC windows. The property - on Woodbank Street, in Burslem - is in a conservation area and the timber-framed windows should never have been removed and replaced with the plastic ones.
But landlord Amran Khan - who already had tenants in the building when he acquired the property - says he did not sanction the work and other nearby properties already have plastic windows. Now Khan, of Rushton Road, Cobridge, has been slapped with a £551 court bill after admitting breaching an enforcement notice issued in March 2019 by failing to reinstall timber-framed windows.
Robinay Johns, prosecuting on behalf of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: "The property is in a conservation area and the windows have been removed and replaced with white uPVC windows. Mr Khan is the owner of the property and is legally responsible. An enforcement notice was served on Mr Khan, who was given a six month period to remove the uPVC windows and install original windows. This period of time has elapsed and there has been no compliance with the enforcement notice."
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North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard metal-framed windows were in place when Khan bought the property.
He told the court: "I didn't know I was responsible for this. I had no right to get involved with it. The tenants said the windows were in a really bad condition and they informed me they had changed the windows. I applied for planning permission which was refused. My next-door neighbours have uPVC windows."
Magistrates handed Khan a 12-month conditional discharge.
Magistrate Wayne Gough said: "I have quite a bit of sympathy with you, given what we have heard. However it is important that you engage at all levels with the council on this. While we understand you have commercial tenants in at the moment, you are still the owner of that property and it is your responsibility. It is not just going to go away for you."
