A landlord has been fined more than £5,000 for having broken fire alarms in his property.

Abbas Raouf, of Raouf Properties Limited, was aware the smoke detectors in flats he rents to private tenants were faulty but did not get them repaired.

One resident was forced to contact Brighton and Hove City Council after an alarm repeatedly went off and had to be disconnected but was not replaced.

Brighton and Hove’s private sector housing team carried out an investigation on the block of six flats at 33 Buckingham Street, Brighton.

The council asked Mr Raouf to repair the alarms but a month later he had still not taken action.

Mr Raouf insisted there was nothing wrong with the alarm system, even though he had indicated to the fire alarm company that it was not compliant with regulations.

Raouf Properties Limited was fined a total of £5,680 for breaching the Housing Act, which states it is the landlord’s responsibility to make sure fire precautions are maintained and in good working order.

Maria Caulfield, the council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “The consequences of not having working fire alarms in the property could have been extremely serious.

"With no early warning system for residents, if a fire had broken out they may not have got out of the building in time.

“It is quite unusual to have to prosecute for something like this as normally landlords sort out the problem once they are alerted.

“The landlord here was given plenty of opportunity to put things right, and when he didn’t we decided to take action.

"Residents who live in private accommodation may not be aware that the council can help them, but our private sector housing team are there to help residents with a range of issues, from fire safety to overcrowding.”