Housing Solicitors

Brent Council in Greater London has prosecuted a family of landlords who set up a “Slumdog Millionaire”-style shanty home, into which they crammed 31 tenants.

Mother and daughter, Harsha and Chandani Shah – along with Mrs Harsha Shah's brother, Sanjay Shah – were profiting by around £112,000 a year, after allowing 31 people to live in what the council called “appalling conditions” in a four-bedroom house in Wembley, northwest London.

Jaydipkumar Valand – who collected the rent off the tenants for the Shah family – pleaded guilty at the trial in December 2016.

The four defendants will be sentenced at Crown Court at a later date.

Enforcement officers from Brent Council also found a woman living in a lean-to shed in the back garden of the property on Napier Road in Wembley during a raid on the premises in July 2016.

The shack had no lighting or heating and was made from wood offcuts, pallets and tarpaulin.

Inside the house, officers found some residents sharing a single bed, with night workers swapping sleeping shifts with those who worked during the day – four beds were discovered piled into the front room and three in each bedroom.

Head of Private Housing Services at Brent Council, Spencer Randolph, said:

“This judgment sends out a clear message that Brent has a zero tolerance policy towards landlords who break the law and exploit vulnerable tenants.

“The lean-to shack we found in the back garden of the property in July last year looked like something you would expect to find in a Hollywood depiction of a shanty town.

“We will prosecute any landlord or agent if we find housing tenants in cramped or hazardous conditions – Brent's aim is to help renters by ensuring decent living conditions within the borough.”

A judge at Willesden Magistrates’ Court said:

“This trial has revealed how people desperate for accommodation in London can be exploited and have paid to live in grossly overcrowded, unhygienic and unsafe conditions.”

The judge also ordered the defendants to pay Brent Council £35,000 in costs.

Fines paid to the courts by criminal landlords following successful prosecutions by Brent Council have now passed the half-a-million pound mark.

The council said its enforcement activity results in two to five prosecutions every month.

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