A LANDLORD who evicted his tenant and dumped their furniture on the pavement has been fined for littering.

Nolan Foley repossessed the house in West Cliff Road, Dawlish, and moved items including a sofa, cushions, drawers and white goods outside hoping the former tenant would retrieve them. 

Neighbours filmed him dumping bulky items on the pavement and sent footage to Teignbridge Council which decided to prosecute.

Foley pleaded guilty to depositing controlled waste without an environmental licence and was fined £500 and ordered to pay the £458 cost of removing the rubbish by Judge James Adkin at Exeter Crown Court.

He told Foley: ‘You had a dispute with the tenant who was leaving the house and had taken some property and you put some on the side of the road.

‘You were reckless as to whether the tenant in fact did come back.’ 

A prosecutor from Teignbridge Council told the court neighbours contacted officers to complain of a large pile of items left on the pavement.

Foley returned to remove any items which could be sold for scrap. The rest had to be removed by the council at public cost.

The prosecutor said Foley had left the waste items on the pavement ‘willy-nilly and without thought for anyone else’.

Miss Evie Dean, defending, said Foley had evicted a tenant and was emptying the house because he planned to sell it. He thought the tenant would remove it. 

He is selling the house on behalf of a trust and does not expect any personal benefit from the sale.