Landlord left man in sub-zero flat after illegally cutting off power

Plus: Southport Imam on the legacy of fear caused by mosque attack

Jun 29, 2025

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Hello and welcome to the 48th edition of The Southport Lead.

Today’s edition contains more news that you won’t have been able to read anywhere else and focuses on important issues affecting our communities.

The first is the story of a rogue landlord who twice cut off his tenant’s power supply, leaving him with no heating or lighting as temperatures dropped below zero. This was reversed at the council’s intervention but happened again days later.

You can also hear from the Imam of Southport Mosque who appeared in Parliament this week to explain the impact the town’s Muslim community felt in the wake of the riots which targeted their place of worship.

As always, this Sunday edition also gives paying subscribers access to Andrew Brown’s events guide to the week ahead.

Tenant left in freezing flat by rogue landlord

The flat on Bold Street. Pic: The Southport Lead

By Jamie Lopez

A man was found wrapped in layers and clothes and a blanket in a cold, dark flat after his landlord wrongly had his electricity supply cut off.

Daniel Kambatuku was left with no heating, lighting or any way of making a hot drink during a cold winter when Ali Habib instructed Meters UK to switch the supply off claiming nobody was living there.

Mr Habib had previously been responsible for allowing someone to live in the same property on Bold Street when he had no licence to run it as a house of multiple occupation (HMO) and when it was failing to meet fire safety regulations.

He has now been hit with a £10,500 fine after breaching HMO licensing laws when he had the electricity supply cut off. He had originally been fined £15,000 by Sefton Council but that total was reduced on appeal at the Property Court in Manchester.

The incident dated back to 2023 but an appeal judgment has only been handed out in recent months. The court heard that on January 9 of that year, Mr Kambatuku contacted the council’s housing team to complain his electricity had been cut off.

He explained a £1,000 debt had been added to his meter which resulted in it being disconnected the previous day. Sarah Price-Collinson, a senior housing officer, contacted Mr Habib who maintained no-body was living there.

In a summary of Ms Price-Collinson’s evidence, Tribunal Judge J. E. Oliver explained: “[Mr Habib] would not co-operate and ended the call. She and a colleague visited the property on 11th January and found the tenant sitting in the dark. He had on layers of clothes and a blanket.

“The power to the property was all electric and consequently there was no means of heating the flat, making a hot drink or having a shower in addition to any lighting.”

Meters UK explained to Ms Price-Collinson it had added the £1,000 debit at the landlord’s request as a way to cut the supply. She then checked the eviction notice which had been given to Mr Kambatuku and found it to be invalid.

Once informed there was still a tenant living there, Meters UK reinstated the credit to turn the power supply back on. However, the power was again cut on January 13 and not restored for a week. During that period, temperatures hit -1°c and Mr Habib rejected an email request from Ms Price-Collinson asking for the electricity to be reinstated and disputed Meters UK’s statement that he had requested it be cut off by claiming the flat was empty.

In rejecting the request, the landlord argued the tenant was in arrears and that utilities included in the rent included electricity but this was later found to be untrue.

The landlord’s evidence explained he had issued an eviction notice in the previous October due to unpaid arrears of £2,750 but then agreed to an extension into the new year. He confirmed he had instructed for the power to be cut off without checking the flat was actually empty and that he was not involved in it being reinstated.

In March 2023, another eviction notice was issued and in May 2023 the council issued a £15,000 fine. These incidents were not the first time Mr Habib had come to the attention of authorities. In January 2020, fire crews were called to the flat when a resident suffered light smoke inhalation while cooking. Although it hadn’t developed into a fire, the flat was heavily smoke logged and the entire building was evacuated.

During the course of that callout, firefighters noticed the property did not meet fire safety regulations and The Southport Lead understands this led the matter to be referred to the council which found several breaches of HMO licensing laws, including Category 1 Hazards - those which are described as posing “a serious and immediate risk to a person's health and safety”. It was also found at this point that the HMO was not licensed as required by law.

Reducing the fine on appeal, Judge Elliot ruled it was unreasonable to cut the supply without making any effort to check the flat was empty, adding: “Any responsible landlord would have checked he had left the Property, if only to ensure possession.

“Whilst Ali Habib was said to be away from the area, he had confirmed he had other members of staff, namely a maintenance team, who could have fulfilled that role.”

The only element in which he differed from the council was classifying the culpability as “high” rather than “very high” on the basis it hadn’t been proved it was an intentional breach of the law, though he did describe it as “certainly wilful blindness”.

Cllr Daren Veidman, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Highways, told The Southport Lead: “The council issued a financial penalty to Mr Habib as a result of him cutting off the supply of electricity to a tenant’s property in January 2023, leaving the tenant without any form of heating, lighting, cooking facilities or hot water.

“Mr Habib appealed the decision to issue the penalty, the Tribunal upheld the Council’s decision to impose a penalty and set the amount of the penalty at £10,500

“While the Council tries to work with tenants and landlords to resolve issues, this case shows that where necessary, Sefton Council is perfectly willing to take action.”

The council cited other actions including fines totalling £45,000 which were imposed on two housing managing agents and one landlord across various prosecutions. These included managing or being in control of properties without the required Selective Licence.

Separately, in October 2024, a landlord with multiple premises in Bootle was fined £22,000 for renting the properties out unlicensed.

Landlords can find out if their property needs a licence and can make an application at housinglicensing.sefton.gov.uk. People can find out more about acceptable living standards for rented properties and how to make a complaint at www.sefton.gov.uk/Housing-standards.

Fear and anxiety in Muslim community after riots

By Jamie Lopez

The Imam of Southport mosque has told MPs about the fear that Muslims felt in the wake of the Southport riot.

The place of worship was pelted with bricks, bottles and flaming objects and as a huge crowd of thugs tried to attack and set fire to it when it was wrongly linked to the murders of Elsie Dot Stancombe, Bebe King, and Alice da Silva Aguiar.

Imam Ibrahim Hussein was among the terrified people who were inside the mosque during the hours-long attack last summer and this week he visited Westminster to speak to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee about the experiences during and after the riots.

He told them: “One of the most hurtful things is this slogan ‘we want our country back’. [They said] ‘we want our freedom’ and ‘get rid of this lot’.

“There was so much hatred which is unwarranted and we didn't know where all of this was coming from.”

“Of course what followed is a lot of fear in the community. The people who come [to the mosque] was wondering ‘should we come or should we not’ and so on. This is the kind of fear we endured during this whole thing so we are hoping that we’ve left that behind us although things are not all that easy.”

Mr Hussein described the response the following morning, when the community rallied together to rebuild the outer wall and offer support, as “absolutely heartwarming”. This, he said, was reflective of other experiences of engaging with the wider community.

Examples he cited involved an occasion when he, a rabbi and priest each visited each other's place of worship and more recently when open days at the mosque attracted hundreds of visitors.

But, the imam explained, that have still been subsequent problems with not the only experience which has followed the riots. He said since then, they have had to contact the police on six occasions, compared with three in the 30 years of being based in Southport beforehand.

“Although the community is lovely, there are some pockets which have hatred within them and we have to deal with that.”

Hyndburn MP Sarah Smith asked about how British Muslims were and have been affected by the riots.

Mr Hussein said: “My community were so worried. The kids come to learn in the mosque and the ladies come to pray and the men are now making sure they are escorted or they stay at home. They are so worried, they don’t know what is going to happen next.

“Not so long ago, I had a phone call from the police telling me some far right had been celebrating Hitler’s birthday or something like that. One of them was from Southport so they said we found leaflets and stuff like that and weapons/

“So they’re telling me but they said nothing happened so you don’t need to warn the people but I feel like the people really have to take it into consideration that when they’re walking, I keep telling them that everyday, when you’re walking coming to the mosque you have to have your eyes open because you don’t know what’s going to happen behind your back or somebody passing by or a car.

“There is a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, a lot of worries. People saying ‘shall we come to the mosque or not or shall we just forget about the lessons for now and so’. These are things that actually happened to the Muslim community.”

What’s on this week: June 29 - June 6

By Andrew Brown

This Sunday (29th July 2025) sees the North West Armed Forces Festival take place in Southport with an extensive range of activities taking place across town for people of all ages to enjoy!

There is an armed forces parade; military vehicles; history talks; live music and more. There’s also plenty of other events and activities to enjoy during the rest of the week.

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