A lettings agency and its director have been fined a total of £30,000 for failing to licence HMOs and giving sham agreements to tenants. 

The company is Crown Managed Properties Ltd and its director is 28 year old Elliot Gambino, of London.

Highbury Corner magistrates have heard that Crown Managed Properties Ltd gave sham ‘lodger agreements’ to tenants at unlicensed properties in Camden. 

Advertising ‘rent to rent’ rooms on an internet platform, one tenant was placed in a tiny room with no satisfactory means of escape. 

There was also inadequate fire detection within all three flats – items that would have been addressed had the properties been licensed with Camden Council.

Camden Council had carried out early morning raids in Autumn 2018 following a complaint about poor management of a HMO.

The court considered the letting agency had made a substantial profit and took into account the state of the flats. 

Each defendant was fined £15,000 (£5,000 per offence) and each ordered to pay costs.

Councillor Meric Apak, Cabinet Member for Better Homes at Camden Council, says: “We will not allow a minority to spoil it for most landlords and lettings agents who play by the rules and ensure they are running a properly licensed HMO property. We work with them in turn to ensure the property is properly maintained for the good of its tenants.”