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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Housing raid finds 15 men living in two-bedroom north London bungalow

Brent Council officers discovered 15 men crammed inside a two-bedroom bungalow during an enforcement raid yesterday morning.

Tenants were found sleeping on mattresses strewn across the dining and living room floors, as well as on bunks and beds inside the chronically overcrowded two-bedroom property in Sudbury.

Authorities are now looking for the rogue landlord of the illegally overcrowded property, which was so cramped that the renters had resorted to storing clothes and shoes in furniture protected by tarpaulin in the back garden.

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The men, who were paying £50 a week each to live in property, were plagued by damp, mould, poor ventilation, a broken soil stack, damaged light fixtures, poor maintenance and unsafe living conditions.

Officials also discovered that their safety was also compromised by the fact that there was no fire safety system inside the property.

The tenants’ rent added up to £3,250 a month; twice the amount shown on the tenancy agreement.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, cabinet member for housing and welfare reform, said: “I'm appalled at the conditions our team discovered here. There are no circumstances in which it is okay for people to have to live like this - in unsafe, squalid conditions. That’s why we expect landlords to license their properties and why we're prepared to take the strongest possible action, including through the courts, if they fail to do so.

“There's no excuse for landlords not to know who is living in their properties. It's their responsibility to make routine checks. We will continue to crack down on landlords who refuse to manage their properties properly.”

Officers also raided a second unlicensed property in Wembley yesterday. They discovered five households sharing one kitchen, bathroom and toilet between them.

The 11 tenants, which included two children, were paying £1,750 per month in order to live in the unlicensed house in multiple occupation (HMO).

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    brent seems to have a lot of these--most are illegally sublet--i wonder if the same occurs in brents own housing stock????

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    cllr southwood has no idea--a prs landlord has to give notice of inspection--illegals will be gone by then

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    So many regulations each one with a cost driving rents through the roof. making Rent unaffordable
    that's why there was 20'000 evictions of misfortunate tenants last year mainly due to rent arrears through no fault of their own, it's hard to imagine Government & Local authorities hate Tenants so much and then pretend to be their friend.

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