Landlady fined for safety breaches after fatal house fire

A landlady has been fined £160,000 and ordered to pay £40,000 in prosecution costs after a tenant died following a fire in one of the Hounslow properties she rented out.

Surinder Rana was found guilty of four charges of breaking fire safety laws by a jury in March and was sentenced on Friday, 1st May, at Kingston Crown Court.

The fire began shortly after 5am, on 8th August 2011 at 41 Cromwell Road, Hounslow. Ten people lived in the house. Four fire engines and 20 firefighters were called to tackle the blaze which affected the ground floor, first floor and loft.

A number of people managed to escape from the first floor of the property but one of the residents, Sukhi Singh, was found in the heavily smoke-logged kitchen on the ground floor. He was taken to hospital where he died shortly afterwards.

London Fire Brigade fire safety inspectors visited the house the same day and found a number of fire safety breaches including:

• that it wasn’t possible for people to evacuate the premises quickly and safely

• no fire detectors or smoke alarms

• no firefighting equipment

• that no proper fire risk assessment was in place for the property

Following the inspection of the house and the one next door, also owned by Mrs Rana and home to several people, the Brigade issued a notice preventing their use as residential accommodation until they had been fitted with suitable fire separation, adequate fire detection and emergency lighting.