Brent’s council enforcement officers found a rogue landlord housing 25 tenants in a single dangerously overcrowded property. The landlord was subsequently prosecuted and found guilty of extremely serious housing and safety breaches, and was ordered to pay a £25,500 fine.

The officers were called to the three story house in Kilburn by surrounding neighbours who were sick and tired of the properties’ constantly overflowing rubbish bins that created an outbreak of rats.

The Willesden magistrates’ court ruled that the rogue landlord was guilty of failing to licence the property and of committing housing breaches.

Although the landlord did not manage the property himself, Brent council showed more than enough evidence to prove that he had been receiving rents from all 25 tenants who had endured the overcrowded, unhealthy and dangerous accommodation.

The judge was also told that in July 2018 the Fire Brigade had been called out to stop a serious leak that workers at the property had caused when removing the house’s roof, even though tenants were living there at the time.

Following the incident, council officers went to the property and issued a prohibition to rent order directly to the landlord because of the seriousness of the unsafe conditions.

A spokeswoman for the local authority said: “A landlord who receives money from tenants is responsible for ensuring that his or her property is licensed and meeting the requirements of that licence. The tenants who were living in Mr Ali’s property in Willesden Lane had to suffer unsafe conditions until the council stepped in.”

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