A landlord whose tenants were paying £3,500 to live in an overcrowded house of horrors has been handed fines totalling nearly £50,000.
Willesden Magistrates Court ordered Sanjay Patel to pay £49,495 for breaches to the Housing Act at a semi-detached house that he managed in Vivian Avenue, Wembley.
The nearly £50,000 grand total is the largest set of fines and court costs that Brent has brought against an unlicensed landlord of a house of multiple occupation (HMO) this year.
Magistrates heard how faulty doors, mould, blocked hallways and a general state of disrepair at the two-storey home showed Mr Patel was failing his tenants by breaching housing legislation.
Brent officers raided the property after a tenant reported a rat infestation, a leak and a broken toilet. They found eight people, including two children under the age of 13, crammed into the house with facilities only fit for a maximum of five people.
