An Inverness landlord has pleaded guilty to leasing out rooms for four months while not holding a house of multiple occupancy (HMO) licence.
Ken Mack, 32, of Cloverfield Park, admitted on a number of occasions between May 1 and September 1, 2015, at 47 Montague Row and elsewhere, failing without reasonable excuse to hold the licence for the property.
He had previously denied the charge and a trial date had been set for next week.
But Mack failed to appear at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday to make his guilty plea in person.
Instead he instructed his solicitor, Willie Young, to tender his plea because he is currently in Asia with his family and claimed he was unable to secure flights for everyone to return with him to the UK.
Mr Young added that his client was in a position to pay a penalty of £1,000 a month.
But Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood showed little sympathy and deferred the case until February 3 for Mack to make a personal appearance.
Sheriff Fleetwood added: “Why only now has he instructed a guilty plea? This was due to be his fourth trial diet. He should have been here for next week given that he was denying the offence he is now pleading guilty to.”
Sheriff Fleetwood also told the court that Mack had previous convictions of crimes of dishonesty and had committed speeding and dangerous driving offences.
