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Rogue Landlord Found Renting Out Shack in Wembley
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
A rogue landlord has been renting out a Slumdog Millionaire-esque shack in the garden of an over-crowded property in Wembley.
The shack, made from wood offcuts, pallets and tarpaulin, was discovered in a raid by Brent Council’s enforcement team and was featured on BBC London News earlier this week.
The shack in the property’s garden
The search also uncovered 31 people living in what was originally a four-bedroom house on Napier Road.
The shack, in the garden of the house, is unheated and unlit, and was being used to house the only woman living at the address.
The rogue landlord that owned the property now faces prosecution, a criminal record and an unlimited fine. The home has been converted from its original state to have nine bedrooms, each stuffed with bunk beds in order to cram in as many tenants as possible.
It is thought that the sheer number of people living in the property would earn the landlord around £80,000 a year in rent.
Councillor Harbi Farah, the council’s Lead Member for Housing, says: “We’ve seen pest-ridden slums and even beds in sheds before, but this is a new low. The shack looks like something you would expect to see in a Hollywood depiction of a shantytown, not Zone 4 of London. Criminal landlords cannot and will not get away with this.
“Our ground-breaking licensing scheme is helping us to tackle poor standards in the private rented sector and focus on the minority of unscrupulous landlords who refuse to comply with the law.
“The people who pay the heaviest price in the worst rogue landlord cases are their tenants, who pay over the odds for substandard accommodation and live in cramped, hazardous conditions. We will prosecute any landlord or agent we find treating their tenants in such a despicable way.”
Since the start of the year, Brent Council has ramped up its enforcement activity, with between two and five prosecutions each week and many more expected in the coming months.
If you are a landlord in Brent and let shared accommodation, you can apply for a license at www.brent.gov.uk/prslicensing.
Landlords, remember that you must stick to the law and provide safe, secure and suitable accommodation for tenants. Keep up to date with your responsibilities at LandlordNews.co.uk.
