Council enforcement officers have raided a house in Wembley, north London, and found 19 tenants paying a landlord £1,000 a week.

Brent council’s licensing team discovered a garage that had been illegally turned into two bedrooms with a makeshift partition wall between them; a shed in the process of being converted into what appeared to be another bedroom and smoke alarms in a state of disrepair. 

The tenants living at the property included two children.

Councillor Eleanor Southwood, cabinet member for housing and welfare reform in Brent, says: “A landlord making £4,000 a month from exploiting tenants like this is committing an offence. We won’t hesitate in taking action against people who continue to treat tenants badly and provide homes that are unsafe. Our licensing scheme is clear. It requires landlords to meet certain standards and a landlord or agent who rents out to tenants without a licence is breaking the law.”

The raid was a joint operation between the council, police and the UK Border Agency.