The rental industry is said to be worth around 1.4 trillion as more and more people are priced out of mortgages and end up stuck in the rental cycle. Most landlords however are decent people but it's the rogues like the ones featured in this story that give the whole industry a bad name.
Three rogue landlords based in Hounslow have paid £350,000 in fines after being found guilty of an illegal and immoral 'beds in sheds' scheme.
Catherine Hallahan and Brian Linskey, both from London were fined a total of £265,000 after constructing three outbuildings to the rear of their properties in Hounslow.
Council officers assisted by Greater London police visited the rental properties in 2019 where they found three people living in what the council called appalling conditions not fit for humans.
Linskey and Hallahan initially ignored council guidance and continued to rent out these substandard and illegal outbuildings that where no more than flimsy, poorly constructed sheds with inadequate heating and dangerous electrics.
It was determined in court that the rogue landlords had earned over £225,469 by renting out the outbuildings to desperate and vulnerable people. All this will now return to taxpayers via the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Another rogue landlord, Muhammad Efzal of East London, was also prosecuted and fined a total of £72,495 in a separate case heard on the same day at Isleworth Crown Court.
He too was found guilty of renting out what is now being called "beds in shed" in a property which he purchased in Osterley, west London.
Efzal purchased the property knowing the unit could not be legally occupied. However, despite warnings he continued to rent out the property.
When officers inspected the property in November 2019 it was found to be occupied by six students living in appalling and dangerous conditions, with some sleeping on the floor.
