MAGISTRATES have slapped a court bill of more than £35,000 on a couple of rogue Bridgwater landlords.

Cezar-Ionut Dorobantu and Iona Diana Larissa Stanciu both pleaded guilty at Taunton Magistrates' Court to four charges relating to a three-storey house in multiple occupation (HIMO) in Ashleigh Avenue, in the town.

For failing to install an adequate fire detection system between 2010 and 2020 they were each fined £5,000, along with a £190 victim surcharge and £1,659 costs.

They were each fined £5,000 for not putting in fire resistant doors in the premises.

They admitted breaching a prohibition order by allowing more than four people to live or sleep in the house in March this year, which saw them fined £4,000 each.

For being in control of or managing a HIMO that was not licensed under the Housing Act, they were fined £2,000 each.

The individual total sum Dorobantu and Stanciu must both pay is £17,849 - a combined total of £35,698.

Each must pay a lump sum of £2,500, with the remained paid off at the rate of £250 a month.