Landlord fined £20,000 after six escape from fire.
An electrical fault from a down lighter sparked the fire, which destroyed the flats and took 12 hours to extinguish.
Hiteh Mashru, a 49 year old property developer who is £66,000 in debt, admitted endangering life and breaching four safety regulations by failing to carry out risk assessments.
He also failed to ensure the property had appropriate safety equipment including a smoke detector and fire doors.
Watford Magistrates' Court heard last Monday (February 28th) that the precautions taken to comply with the regulations would have cost just a few thousand pounds.
Prosecuting on behalf of Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Judith Gower told the court it was by mere chance that the six people did not die in the raging fire, which left the building without a roof.
Mrs Gower added: "It was only by luck that one of the occupants woke up and got the others to safety.
"It was a very serious fire. The defendant fell well short of the appropriate standards and placed people at risk of death or serious injury."
Chairman of the bench, Michelle Reeves, fined Mashru £5,000 for each of the four breaches, plus £7,394.58 court costs.
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