Michael Woldehanna is asking Waltham Forest to prosecute his landlord for assaulting and ‘discriminating against’ him, reports Marco Marcelline
A Walthamstow tenant says Waltham Forest Council is “refusing” to investigate and punish a landlord who physically assaulted him.
Michael Woldehanna was punched by his private landlord in June after asking him to repair “serious” disrepairs that had not been fixed for “months”.
Issues he highlighted to his landlord included mould, cockroaches, lack of hot water, broken radiators, and no working fire alarm in the property.
On 23rd June, the landlord turned up to the Walthamstow property, which is registered with the council as a house in multiple occupation (HMO), unannounced. He proceeded to punch and knee Michael several times. Police later issued him with a caution for common assault.
Since the attack, Michael has attempted to get the council to revoke or at least review the landlord’s HMO licence, as well as prosecute him.
He has however been told by the council that they have no reason to believe he is not a ‘fit and proper’ landlord, will not be reviewing his license, and also have no plans to prosecute him.
ACORN the Community Union have been supporting Michael over the past few months, and have asked to meet with the council to discuss a plan of how to stop what they call “on-going harassment”.
Speaking during a protest at Waltham Forest Town Hall on Wednesday (16th October) Michael said that the landlord and his son have continued a “campaign of harassment” since the assault took place. He said: “He keeps using his son, who is the licence holder, to accuse me of doing criminal damage.
“They even called the police on me who turned up two weeks ago. They were using the other tenants at the property to make it seem like I was harassing the female tenants, and tampering with the boiler and smoke alarm.”
Speaking to the Echo, a spokesman for ACORN said: “It’s deeply concerning that a landlord, who holds a license with Waltham Forest Council, can repeatedly breach health and safety standards, assault and harass his tenants without any consequences. This is a clear example that the council’s ‘light touch’ enforcement approach doesn’t work, and they are enabling dangerous landlords.”
Khevyn Limbajee, cabinet member for community safety, said the council was “glad” that the police had cautioned the landlord, and described the assault as “shocking”.
Limbajee however added that the landlord in question is “not” the HMO holder, which is why the council has not taken any action against him.
According to law, a HMO licence holder does not have to be the landlord but can be any adult appointed by the landlord who has passed the ‘fit and proper person’ test.’
Speaking to the Echo, Michael said that the landlord had made his son the HMO licence holder earlier this year. Michael says this was done after the police visited his landlord in regards to Michael being assaulted by another tenant in January.
The tenant in question pleaded guilty to common assault, and racially and religiously aggravated intentional harassment during a hearing at Thames Magistrates Court on 29th July.
He was ordered to pay Michael compensation of £75 and fined £150. Michael states he was physically assaulted and verbally abused after his flatmate found out Michael had told the landlord he was using illegal drugs and bringing unauthorised pets to the property.
Michael says he has been attempting to seek alternative accommodation via the council as he cannot afford to rent privately. He says he has contacted the council’s housing team multiple times this year but was told he is not a priority for housing.
In a statement, Limbajee said: “Council enforcement and licensing officers have been involved in this case for approximately two years. The property is properly licensed. To reiterate the landlord is not the license holder – the property is managed on their behalf by the license holder, who is responsible for maintenance and day-to-day repairs.
“We are aware that the tenant has raised concerns of harassment, including a physical assault, by the landlord which the police have taken action on. Council officers have referred the matter to Cambridge House Safer Renting, a third-party partner organisation that provides advocacy and outreach work, who are working directly with the tenant.
“It is essential that the council acts within our legal powers. At this point in time, there is not the evidence that the behaviour of the licence holder is such that they would fail the ‘fit and proper person’ test, but this is a matter which will be reviewed in the light of any new information. A senior council officer and I would be happy to meet the ACORN group to thoroughly explain the options available to us and what we have done so far in this case.”
Michael says he “completely does not accept” the council’s reasons for not having punished his landlord so far, saying: “He is bound by the same terms and conditions as the licence holder. He has to be fit and proper too. I was assaulted, harassed, and discriminated [against] by him which is against the code of conduct for landlords and letting agents to operate in any [local authority area].”
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