48 investors in Sheffield apartments St Mary's House demand city council takes action over landlord Gary Ata

The group, from St Mary’s House on London Road, is complaining about Gary Ata, of Noble Design and Build, and his daughter Jade, over the running of the building and safety issues including allegedly failing to provide copies of fire safety, electrical or gas certificates. It comes after the authority prosecuted Mr Ata in September for failing to provide vital paperwork for another one of his blocks in the city. Mr Ata has had several run-ins with the authorities. He also owns the Old Town Hall in Castlegate.

St Mary’s investor Dominic Oates said: “Young people, students and migrants are living there. It’s a big responsibility and they are playing at it. They are not managing the building professionally. It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

Councillor Douglas Johnson, chairman of Sheffield Council’s housing policy committee, said they listened to tenants and took action where necessary.

He added: “We have received 48 complaints from investors at St Mary’s House. We take the safety of private tenants very seriously and we would encourage any tenant living in a privately rented flat or house to contact us on 0114 2734680 or [email protected] if they have any concerns about unhealthy or hazardous conditions.

“Where we receive complaints that we believe pass the evidential threshold for prosecution and we think that it will benefit the people of Sheffield, we will take robust enforcement action. Our recent prosecution of Mr Ata shows that we take complaints seriously. We are not aware of any fire safety issues at St Mary’s House, but we will listen to any tenants who contact us with any concerns.”

The investors’ letter to the council states: “Despite serving S21 and S22 Notices twice for summaries of charges and requests to inspect accounts and supporting documents (invoices, reconciliation, bank statements) we received no response’.

It adds: “I look to Sheffield City Council to bring appropriate action against Gunes Ata, trading as Noble Design and Build and Ms Jade Ata since some of the decisions she has made personally have compromised the proper running of the building, adversely affecting me, tenants and other leaseholders, morally, ethically, legally, contractually and financially.”

Mr Ata and Ms Ata did not respond to requests for comment.