By Gavin Mackintosh-
Rogue landlord Robert Crow says the UK lockdown and the loss of his properties has led him to resume smoking after packing it up for seven years.
The notorious landlord lost three of his four flats in Devereux Road, Southend Essex after being repossessed by his creditors towards the end of 2019.
Mr.Crow was about to lose his only flat when he was unwittingly rescued after prime minister, Boris Johnson put a halt on all repossessions by announcing a total UK lockdown on March 23, 2020. The 71 year old landlord had been given 28 days notice to evacuate the property, which was due to lapse on March 27th. He escaped by the skin of his teeth.
He would have been accommodated in B&B’s with scores of rough sleepers, many of whom he had sought accommodation at his disorganised property, before they left one after another.
Currently, all evictions and repossessions have been frozen until June, giving him some time to address his accommodation issues.
Depressed
Mr. Crow has admittedly become a depressed figure, speaking at a very low volume in contrast to the usually rapid pace he speaks. He has lost his voice to express his distress with Southend Borough Council, who put him out of business when his benefits money was stopped. His money was stopped after Basildon Court imposed a Criminal Behavioural Order (CBO) against him.
Speaking to The Eye Of Media.Com, Mr Crow said:
”I am back to smoking now. I am quite depressed, and the lockdown made it worse, Mr. Crow said during a phone conversation. The lockdown nearly drove me crazy staying in most of the day with no electric. I had to go out for walks sometimes to clear my head, you know.
It has been awful having people live in my property by force when the courts said I can’t have anyone stay here. The police has refused to get them out, so I have been made totally powerless in my own house.
I am in the vulnerable age group and could easily catch Covid-19 from these lot, but nobody cares if I die. I have been left to rot, I never thought I would go back to smoking. I am just terribly depressed”.
Courts
The 71 year old has been a regular name and face in the courts, where judges have imposed fines against him. In 2016 when he was fined £39k for breaches of a House Of Multiple Occupation(HMO).
Crow was hauled before the courts again in 2018 , where an additional fine of £44k was imposed on him by Basildon crown Court for breach of House Of Multiple Occupation (HMO) offences again. The defiant landlord then put up a series of legal challenges against court judgements, lodging appeals one after the other, but was defeated each time. He often represented himself because he could not afford a legal representative.
A friend of Mr. Crow told The Eye Of Media.Com: ” I think he has been given a hard time by the authorities. All he tried to do was help the homeless. I guess he has to learn a few lessons from this because he was told several times to sell up but he didn’t listen to anyone.
I’ll tell you what, that lockdown must have come like manna from heaven because all repossessions had to stop. At least it must have given him some breathing space to plan his next step”
Sharing
Mr Crow has been sharing the bottom flat of his property with a Russian couple who are the only former residents left out of the old bunch .
The couple have refused to leave his property and share a narrow hallway with the emotionally battered Mr.Crow, despite never ever paid a penny or had a tenancy agreement after 3 years. Mr Crow initially took the couple on when his benefit intake from Southend Borough Council was flowing smoothly, and trusted them to eventually pay rent.
Instead, he used the male, known as Darius, to help with domestic work for a while in the place of cash, after which Darius and his wife made Mr. Crow’s residence their home.
The three resided in the flat through out the UK lockdown, with all three breaking lockdown rules to different degrees, according to neighbours.
Mr. Crow complained that the couple regularly spend all day out at a family member’s property and returned late at night.
Crow made efforts to sell two of his repossessed flats after being approached by a random potential buyer, but the freeze on property markets meant he simply be thankful to fate for at least granting him the one flat he has as a roof over his head. He is currently trying to sell one of the repossessed properties which still has not been bought to escape a nightmare he brought upon himself.
Mr Crow bought the four flats in 2004.