The former landlord of the Leopards? Plaza told yesterday of his dismay at the derelict state of the building and the potential dangers faced by tenants living there.

Bruce Simons, who managed and lived in the Pembroke property for many years, told that residents contacted him and his wife Margo after Saturday?s devastating fire, which destroyed much of the second floor.

He said: ?We went to see what we could do. I?m sad to see that they let it go to a point like this. Most people know when my wife and I had it we did pretty good. Now the residents have been endangered. They were just left and neglected ? like cattle.?

Mr. Simons said that he took on the management of the former hotel in 1995 but had to hand it back to its owners, the Leopards? Club, last January when his lease ran out.

He alleged that since then the block, on Brunswick Street, had not been properly looked after and safety features, such as fire escape ladders and fire extinguishers, no longer worked.

Leopards? Club president Denny Richardson argued that the building should never have been turned into a rooming house because it was not fit to be used as a permanent home.

Mr. Richardson said the Leopards? Club should not have to take responsibility for tenants because it had not been the landlord which moved them in.

He said the club wanted to pull the building down and residents, who he claimed were not paying rent, had agreed to move out by February.

He described the situation as a ?bad, bad mess? and said the Leopards? Club was doing everything in its power to put things right.

?My wife and I did some major renovations in the place,? said Mr. Simons. ?We ensured the smoke detectors and the fire extinguishers were always working and we had security cameras and tenant fire drills with an evacuation plan.

?When we took it on there were no smoke detectors and the fire extinguishers weren?t operable. We invested in it; it was our business.?

He claimed that a filtered water system installed by him and his wife was not properly maintained after they left and residents became sick as a result.

He and his wife did not want to give up the building last year but had no choice, he claimed. ?The lease had run out. We asked for a six-month extension but didn?t get it. They wanted it back so I was assuming they had a plan.?

Mr. Simons, of Pembroke, said the block housed a number of vulnerable tenants, including three seniors, one of whom was blind.

?It was derelict when we took it over and it was not vacant. We gave it back to them with tenants. We then moved on with our lives.?

He added: ?This mishap is a blatant neglect of the tenants and their lives. People should always be first regardless of how much money they have or where they come from.?

Mr. Richardson said he had done everything he could to help the residents.

He said: ?I was the one who went to get them jobs. We have done everything within our power for those people. We have called all Government agencies to help.?

He argued that if the fire extinguishers were broken it was not the Leopards? Club?s fault.

?Someone had tampered with the fire extinguishers, making them unusable,? he said. ?If they weren?t working, we will be blamed for that because it?s our building. And of course we will be blamed for the water not being tested.

?The place is not made for continued inhabiting. It was made for guests as a hotel. We did not make it into a rooming house. You should ask Mr. Simons who did that. He took people up to January next year.

?We have acted sensitively. We will continue to be sensitive, but we should not have to take responsibility for those people living there.

?We did not start the fire, we did not put them there as tenants. All we are trying to do is sort out a bad, bad mess that we are in.?