THE owner of a slum flat where two students died 20 years ago has been fined after he demanded rent from a tenant despite a council ban.

Harpal “Harry” Singh wanted cash from 21-year-old Liam Fair in February 2018. The 66-year-old was yesterday back at Glasgow Sheriff Court after Mr Fair reported him to police. But he escaped with a £270 fine after he pleaded guilty to a charge of acting in a manner which disrupted the “peace and comfort” of Mr Fair.

Mr Fair stayed in a property in Melrose Street in Glasgow’s Woodlands area. This was the same street where students James Fraser and Daniel Heron perished in a horrific flat blaze in 1999.

Read more: Rogue landlord Harpal Singh behind student fire death flat banned from renting out properties

Singh was the landlord – and he was later jailed for perjury after lying under oath that the basement property had working smoke detectors.

A hearing was told Singh was hit with a Glasgow City Council “rent suspension order” in November 2017. However he later turned up unannounced at Mr Fair’s flat months later.

Singh said: “Have you decided if you are going to pay any rent?” Mr Fair reminded the rogue landlord about the ban. Singh then replied: “You are not renting from the council. You are renting from me.”

Despite his demands, Singh left empty-handed and Mr Fair contacted the council and police. Singh – who lives in a £675,000 house in the city’s Newlands – was held two days later. He was subsequently banned from letting out properties following a council meeting in April 2018.

Singh was barred from being a landlord after running unlicensed flats – some without basic fire and safety measures. He claimed to know nothing about the faults.

Committee chairman Bailie John Kane told him at last year’s meeting: “You have a pattern of totally and utterly disregarding those rules.”

Singh was also ordered at the time to stump up a £150,000 council tax bill. His lawyer stated at the court hearing yesterday that Singh had previously been prosecuted “for having a tenancy without a licence”.

Read more: Flat landlord fined for safety breach

Moira Grant, defending, added: “He is not working and no income other than £5,000 in savings.” Sheriff Sean Murphy QC decided to reduce the fine from £300 due to the guilty plea. He told Singh: “Mr Fair had no right to be spoken to in such a fashion.”

Singh was back in the dock 20 years after a fire ripped through a flat he rented out and Mr Fraser and Mr Heron, both 20, died. An investigation found the flat had not been fitted with a working smoke alarm.

Metal bars on the windows prevented the students’ escape. Singh was later jailed for 30 months after lying at a fatal accident inquiry for claiming a working smoke alarm was fitted in the hallway. But a catalogue of dangers was exposed in a report to councillors following a visit by inspectors in November 2017 to his properties.

Some of the issues included a lack of smoke alarms, no carbon monoxide alarms, damaged floors, damp, windows that do not open, a leaking boiler, no window vents and cracked windows.

He was found to be leasing the flats out as HMOs despite being unlicensed. The rogue landlord is apparently going to be selling his properties to pay for the £150,000 council tax bill.