Street surveys crackdown on unlicensed rental homes

Enforcement officers have begun patrolling streets in Brent to check whether rental homes are licensed.

The first street patrol took place six months following the start of borough-wide licensing. The law states that every landlord who rents out a property in Brent must have a licence to rent, except for Wembley Park.

Teams were made up of officers covering planning, anti-social behaviour and private housing services. They knocked on the door of every house in Stanley Avenue, Wembley, offering advice on waste management, listening to any concerns about anti-social behaviour and, where the property was a rental home, asking if it was licensed and free of serious hazards.

Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council and Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “We are receiving licensing applications, but we know there are many more applications still to be made.

“We have intelligence on certain streets with evidence to suggest that tenants might be living in unlicensed properties, or in properties that are in breach of planning regulations, and those are the areas we are targeting through our street patrols.

“No rogue landlord will slip through the net in Brent: if you are a landlord in Brent and your property is unlicensed, we will find you and you will face prosecution and hefty fines.”

Last week, a landlord whose tenants were paying £3,500 to live in an overcrowded house of horrors, was 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.

If you are a landlord with an unlicensed property, avoid prosecution and get licensed today.

Report a suspected unlicensed rental property to Brent.