A property owner has been fined £9,000 for contravening fire regulations at a property she was renting out.
Deborah Anne Perry admitted six counts of the offence and was fined £1,500 for each by High Bailiff Jayne Hughes.
Six other counts of the same offence against the 55-year-old were withdrawn.
We previously reported that Perry is the owner of Cambridge House, at Waterloo Road in Ramsey.
She lives there herself and there was one other occupant, in a separate flat.
On October 24, an inspection of the property was made after concerns were raised with environmental health by the occupant at the property.
A fire officer took part in the inspection and found the following contraventions of fire regulations.
No monthly inspection had been carried out to check a fire alarm panel was active and operational.
No monthly inspection had been carried out to check if an emergency lighting system was active and operational.
The separation between the basement ceiling and flat above was compromised, so it did not provide 60 minutes of fire resistance.
None of the doors in the ground floor flat were FD30 doors as required.
There was no fire blanket in the kitchen of the ground floor flat.
No signs or notices, regarding instructions in the case of a fire, were in the ground floor flat.
Perry had been written to in 2009 and had confirmed that the property would not be used as flats and would remain a single property domestic dwelling.
In January 2023, Perry attended a voluntary interview at police headquarters and said she had bought the property in 1995.
She said she had previously wanted to turn it into flats but then her plans changed.
She said she had employed someone to manage the project, but claimed she had been ‘ripped off’.
Perry said that, in 2016, she had spoken to someone who had wanted somewhere to live as he had split with his partner, but said she had told him that Cambridge House was not a registered flat.
She said that he had said he was happy with that and that he had nowhere to live.
Defence advocate Michael Jelski said that the offences had been more down to naivety on his client’s part and that she had not been aware of new fire regulations coming into force in 2016.
Mr Jelski said that Perry intended to sell property but it needed a lot of work.
The advocate said that she had removed a partition in the ground floor flat so that the property had been converted back into one house, as soon as the offences were highlighted.
‘I submit the offences were born out of naivety rather than a deliberate act on her part. She was trying to help somebody,’ said Mr Jelski.
The court heard that Perry has no previous convictions.
She was also ordered to pay £50 prosecution costs and will pay all amounts at a rate of £100 per month.