By Sammie Jones-
Brent Council has been nailing and prosecuting dodgy landlords, as part of a scheme to crack down on them.
Over 100 landlords have been fined and prosecuted in the last year, as the council presses forward in their smash against roguish landlord conduct.
On Wednesday a number of men were found crammed in small rooms. Some rooms had seven people sharing one room, five people sharing another, and four people sharing a room on bunk beds made out of bits of wooden pallet, when they raided the property at dawn raid on Friday.
A number of the tenants were EU nationals with no where to stay, whilst others were English born previously homeless people who cannot afford to get their own property, the eye of media.com have heard.
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Some of the tenants claimed to have been living in their one-bedroom flat for just days, and have had no contact with the landlord of the unlicensed House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). Our sources in the Brent area believe they were saying this to protect the landlord whom they see as being helpful to them by charging them reduced rents with no need for a deposit. In reality, they are vulnerable people being exploited because of their circumstances.
Head of Brent Council, Spencer Randolp said in a statement:
“These tenants are being exploited and forced to live in appalling conditions by a landlord who has no regard for their safety,” said Spencer Randolph, head of Brent’s housing services. “They are living in a fire trap that is uninhabitable, grossly overcrowd and insanitary. People renting in the private sector in Brent are entitled to live in homes that are safe and well-managed.”
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Recently, another Rogue Landlord, Arthur Zuravskij was found guilty of illegally subletting a five-bedroom house in Hanover Road, Willesden, to seven tenants. Landlords who abuse their position are several in the country; they often exploit vulnerable people the most.
Zuravskij was a tenant himself, acting as a landlord. He had rented the house from a letting agency and sublet it without obtaining a licence or any permission from Brent Council.
Willesden Magistrates court ordered Mr Zuravskij to pay £2,250 in fines, while his company, Enox UK Ltd – formerly Skyline Property Management – was fined £8,000. Brent Council told theeye of media.com that it had successfully brought prosecutions against 101 landlords for breaking housing regulations since it began a crackdown in 2015.
“We hope that more than 100 prosecutions against rogue landlords in Brent sends a clear message that rented properties in the borough need the correct licence,” Cllr Harbi Farah, cabinet member for Housing and Welfare said.
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