Thirty one migrants were found living in severe conditions in a four bedroom house in north-west London. 26 beds were found stuffed wretchedly in the house, along with a bed infested with rodents, in a garden shack made from wood offcuts. Brent Council confirmed all 31 people lived there at the same time.
Spencer Randolph, head of private housing services, Brent Council, said they were "paying somewhere between £60 and £65 a week. So we're looking at an income on this property of £1,500 a week which is around £80,000 a year. It's dreadful to think that somebody could be exploited to living in what isn't even a shed." One of the tenants, Bagharad, said he lived in the house on Napier Road because he worked as a carer for the elderly and was only paid £30 a day. Another migrant, from India, said he would rather live in the cramped conditions than return to India.
"We've seen pest-ridden slums and even beds in sheds before, but this is a new low. The shack looks like something you would expect to see in a Hollywood depiction of a shanty town, not Zone 4 of London. Criminal landlords cannot and will not get away with this," said Harbi Farah, Brent Council's lead member for housing. "The people who pay the heaviest price in the worst rogue landlord cases are their tenants, who pay over the odd for sub-standard accomodation and live in cramped, hazardous conditions."
A council spokesman said the landlord had applied for a landlord license stating only seven people would be living at one time. He/she would be soon prosecuted for offences under the housing act.
