A landlord has been fined £3,000 for overcrowding a flat.

It had four people living there when only one was allowed.

Stratos Efstratiou, 54, owner of a property in Folkestone Road, Dover, pleaded guilty at Folkestone Magistrates Court on November 16 to breaching a Prohibition Order.

He had allowed the overcrowding despite having been prosecuted in 2014 for two breaches of the same order.

He was fined and also told to pay £150 costs and a £181 victim surcharge.

On August 8, 2013, Dover District Council served a Prohibition Order under the Housing Act 2004 to limit the number of occupants in the flat and forbidding the use of one of the rooms as a bedroom.

Council officers became aware in 2019 that the flat was being rented out to two people and further enquiries revealed that the flat was again overcrowded, and the small room was being used as a bedroom.

The order demanded the flat to be occupied by one person, but Efstratiou had rented it to a couple, who also had two young children living there.

Cllr Nicholas Kenton, DDC cabinet member for regulatory services, said: “We continue to work hard to ensure that private sector residents are living in accommodation that is well maintained, safe and warm.

"We take robust legal action where landlords fail to comply with the regulations and their obligations.”