Enforcement officers found 11 people living crammed inside a three-bed semi this morning following a tip-off from eagled-eyed residents.
The Brent Housing Enforcement Team entered an address in West Hill, Wembley, along with police shortly after 6am. They found tenants sleeping in every room inside the house, except for the kitchen and bathroom.
The three-bedroom, semi-detached property did not have a legally required HMO (house in multiple occupation) licence.
Officers were disgusted to see the conditions nearly a dozen people were living in as they carried out their inspection, including a polystyrene ceiling giving way inside the kitchen, no fire safety doors and no fire alarm system. Damp and black mould also covered the walls and ceilings inside the rooms making it difficult for people to breathe normally.
Tenants told Brent’s licensing enforcement team that they were paying a combined rent of more than £2,000 to their landlord to live in the property’s squalid conditions.