The owner of an Etobicoke rooming house was sentenced to three years in prison on Friday in connection with a March 2011 fire that killed a 56-year-old tenant.

Cathy Robertson, the captain of the legal section for Toronto Fire Services, says the landlord, Jasvir Singh, was convicted of criminal negligence causing death, criminal negligence causing bodily harm and four counts of criminal mischief after failing to follow proper fire code regulations at the home.

Singh has also been ordered to pay $26,000 in restitution.

The fire occurred at a home on Humber College Boulevard, near Finch Avenue and Highway 27, on the night of March 6, 2011. It broke out in the victim’s second-floor bedroom after a hot plate caught fire and spread to the blankets. Five people managed to escape the blaze however the 56-year-old man’s body was later discovered in the home by firefighters.

Another person inside the residence at the time of the fire suffered severe smoke inhalation and burns to his face and hands.

According to Robertson, a fire inspector visited Singh’s home in October 2010 after receiving a complaint about the property. The inspector informed the landlord that changes needed to be made to the home in order to operate a rooming house.

When the inspector returned in February 2011, Robertson said that Singh had shown evidence that the home was no longer being operated as a rooming house. Instead, Singh claimed he was operating a two-unit dwelling, which falls under less stringent fire code regulations. Robertson said the inspector cleared the house based on that information.

“There is far more work to be done with a rooming house. When you look at the cost, and that was his whole concern, it was cheaper for him to do the work for a two-unit dwelling than it was for a rooming house,” Robertson told CP24.com Tuesday morning.

At some point after the inspection, the home went back to operating as a rooming house.

This recent conviction and sentence, Robertson said, has set precedence in Canada.

“There has never been a landlord convicted and sent to prison based on negligence of the fire code,” Robertson said.

“So this is huge for us in Toronto because as you can imagine, we run across this all the time.”

Singh is also facing charges in the provincial court system for Ontario Fire Code infractions, including failing to provide a smoke alarm for each sleeping room and not maintaining smoke alarms in operating condition.