Lambeth Council officers inspected a private rented sector house in the Streatham area of the borough and found that between July 2019 and January 2020 it had been occupied, as an illegal bedsit, by more than 5 tenants. The total amount of rent per month that the landlord received was £4,240.

The landlord was convicted in April 2022 at Croydon Magistrates Court of operating an unlicensed HMO and was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,250.55. However, he subsequently appealed against his conviction and fine but on the first day of the appeal hearing, dropped the part of the appeal relating to the conviction whilst still appealing against the level of the fine.

At the Crown Court appeal hearing Lambeth Council's fine against the landlord was upheld and the landlord was also ordered to pay the council's additional £4000 legal costs for fighting against his appeal or face a 45 day prison sentence. He was also ordered to pay a £32 victim surcharge.

The landlord will be entered on to the national rogue landlord database and Cllr. Maria Kay, Cabinet Member for Better Homes and Reducing Homelessness, said "Unscrupulous landlords who put profit ahead of their tenants' safety and wellbeing will not be tolerated in our borough."

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