Cricklewood landlady who rented out illegal bedsits is fined £11k

A landlady from Cricklewood who crammed 11 tenants into an unlicensed rundown property that breached fire regulations has been heavily fined.

Khalida Khan, of Cleveland Gardens, rented out the eight-bedroom house in West Hendon as illegal bedsits with no fire alarms, fire doors and inadequate fire separation between the rooms.

Since 2006, landlords of a shared accommodation property that has three or more storeys and with five or more tenants who sharing amenities such as kitchens and bathroom must be licensed.

Officers from Barnet Council also discovered that when the bathroom on the first floor was used water leaked into the living room downstairs.

Although the house had a ground floor kitchen, one of her tenants set up a makeshift one in a stairwell which would have been a means of escape if a fire broke out.

The property was raided last year following complaints about its state of disrepair and it being overcrowded.

Khan admitted failing to hold a licence and properly managing the House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) and was fined £6,600, ordered to pay the council’s costs of £4,384 and a victim surcharge of £120.Cath Shaw, Barnet Council’s commissioning director for growth and regeneration, said: “This property was unlicensed and wasn’t in the condition you would expect of a rented property.

“This highlights once again the importance of this type of property being licensed to make sure it is of a suitable standard and properly managed to make sure that tenants are not put at risk.”