A HAMPSHIRE landlord has been fined £18,000 after his tenants, including a mother and her young baby, were forced to live in filthy and dangerous conditions.

Toilets were broken and leaking, windows were smashed, fridges were covered in mould and rust, mattresses were soiled and cookers were 'caked in grease' at the house owned by Mota Singh Birdi.

Although he failed to turn up at court, Eastleigh magistrates found Birdi, 46, guilty of nine offences under the Housing Act, relating to 3 Waterloo Road, Shirley, Southampton.

Birdi sold the house - known as The City Guest House - last month.

Fourteen rooms at the house were rented to people referred by social services, including teenagers, a young mum and the elderly.

The court heard that Birdi - who also goes by the name Gurdeep Singh Powar and other aliases - is believed to be living in Danebury Gardens, Valley Park, Eastleigh, but he also owns houses in Carnation Road and Bluebell Road, Swaythling, and two houses in Peterborough.

Environmental health officers first visited the Waterloo Road property after a fire on June 30 last year.

In a statement read to the court, environmental health technician Sharon Herbert said: "The rear exit door had a panel of glass cracked with very sharp edges protruding, the first floor kitchen had no window in the window frame, therefore it was completely open to the elements. There was no hot water tap to the shower, the toilet was leaking and there was a container collecting the water under the pipe, the cookers had knobs missing and were very dirty and caked in grease."

Harold Robson, prosecuting for Southampton City Council, said Mrs Herbert reminded Birdi of his responsibility to his tenants and asked him to make urgent improvements by July 11.

When an officer visited the property on July 10 some works had been completed, but other problems were discovered and little changed over the course of eight more visits during July and August.

Mrs Herbert said in her statement that on one occasion Birdi 'laughed at us when I told him we had a complaint regarding the poor state of the property'.

She added: "The floor in the groundfloor kitchen was filthy and grimy and felt sticky to my feet, the refridgerator was filthy and there was mould growing round the seals and rust to the internal metalwork."

Other problems included 'very loose' washbasins in the bathrooms, a soiled mattress, filthy toilets and a cooker with no gas supply.

In a letter read to the court, Birdi said he was unable to attend because his mother-in-law was 'elderly and extremely ill'.

He claimed all the works at the house 'were completed some while ago', the fridge belonged to a tenant and the gas supply had not been switched off.

He also hit out at an environmental health officer who inspected the house, saying: "Due to the unnecessary hassle caused by him, I have sold the property."

Chairman of the bench Valerie Fisher said the magistrates found the nine charges proved against Birdi.

He was fined £2,000 on each charge and ordered to pay £2,017 costs.