A rogue landlord who turned a bungalow in Egham, Surrey, into a 15-room unlicensed HMO has been sentenced by a judge.

Nursery assistant Mona Jetwani, 53, who gave her address as the converted bungalow, had previously admitted 10 charges against her under the Housing Act 2004. 

In summary these were that she operated an HMO without a licence; failed to supply a Gas Safety Report; failed to comply with fire safety regulations; and failed to comply with a number of regulation requirements relating to size of the rooms, access to washing facilities, etc.

District Judge Cooper ruled that Jetwani should be fined £12,000 and ordered to pay a £2,000 victim surcharge. The fine was initially set at £18,000 but was reduced by the judge due to Jetwani’s early guilty plea.

Jetwani was prosecuted by Runnymede council following anonymous tip offs that the bungalow was being illegally used.

Jetwani and her brother initially became aggressive and threatened to undress a baby to create a safeguarding issue to try to stop council visits.

When officers did eventually enter they found shoddy construction methods had been used to create 15 spaces.

Access to showers and toilets did not meet the requirements of an HMO, none of the rooms were big enough to be of legal size for occupation and there was just one small kitchen and only two bathrooms.

There was mould growing on the floor and ceiling of one bathroom, which also had penetrating damp; there were too few smoke alarms; and some  of the 15 ‘rooms’ had large gaps in plasterboard partitions offering inadequate fire separation. Other rooms had no windows or natural light.

Council staff had to crouch or kneel in order to get into other rooms in the loft space, because the ceiling height was so low. Some tenants had only camp beds to sleep on.

Each of the 15 paid between £85 and £125 per week to live in the bungalow.

Further inspections of the property revealed that some of the rooms were as small as 3.48 square metres. The smallest acceptable size for rooms in an HMO property is 6.51m.

A council spokesperson says: “Our first thought is for the people who found themselves living in these dangerous conditions; hopefully they have found better accommodation.

“This bungalow was in an appalling state. Our environmental health staff cannot remember another incident where a landlord had tried to profit to this extent. People’s lives have been put at risk because of these living conditions and a family home was turned into a cash cow.

“People running HMOs need to do so within the rules for good reason. This prosecution came about through anonymous tip offs and we would absolutely encourage anyone else who believes an HMO is being run dangerously or without a licence to contact us. It took over a year to deal with this case but we do not give up when safety is at risk. 

“The majority of landlords operate their properties within the law, but the sentence in this case should be a wake up call to the few who do not, wherever in the borough they are.”

Speaking in court as he issued the fine, District Judge Cooper said: “These people were low income, English was not their first language, and they were vulnerable. 

“I place culpability at its highest – though the Defendant may not have understood she needed a licence, she must have understood these rooms were very small, and the partitioning was inadequate. In my view the partitioning was put up in a hurry to allow [the defendant] to make the most gain from the small space. 

“It was telling that in her [police] interview she didn’t refer to them as rooms but as “spaces”, which suggests she thought of them for the purposes of money-making… these were people who can’t get other accommodation. The fact that they can’t get accommodation does not mean that the accommodation provided to them should be of such a low standard.”