Dawn raid finds sixteen men living in three rooms in Burnt Oak slum flat

Washing hangs amid rain and junk in the yard of the slum flat (Image: Archant)

The men were found to be sleeping seven, five and four to a room on bunkbeds made out of bits of wooden pallet during a dawn raid on Friday.

Some of the tenants claimed to have been living in the converted one-bedroom flat for just a few days, and to have had no contact with the landlord of the unlicensed House in Multiple Occupation (HMO).

“These tenants are being exploited and forced to live in appalling conditions by a landlord who has no regard for their safety,” said Spencer Randolph, head of Brent’s housing services. “They are living in a fire trap that is uninhabitable, grossly overcrowd and insanitary. People renting in the private sector in Brent are entitled to live in homes that are safe and well-managed.”

If you suspect that someone is renting out an unlicensed property in Brent, please report them anonymously at www.brent.gov.uk/reportaproperty.

A man sits on a makeshift bunk at the converted one-room flat (Image: Archant)