After carrying out an investigation Ealing Council took a landlord to court for making his tenants live in an utterly shambolic and filthy conditions. Tenants were literally crammed into the house that was dangerous and the landlord was ordered to pay a £10,000 fine.

Council officers from the HMO licensing team visited the house in June 2012,which contained six rented rooms and discovered that the property was filthy and in an unacceptable state of disrepair.

Following the visit from the team they told the landlord that he had two months to carry out repairs and to clean up the property. When the officers returned to the property they saw that the landlord had not carried out their notice and on top this he had even rented out a further two rooms.

Other serious issues that they found was a broken fire alarm, damaged fire doors and the tenants' rooms had smashed windows.There were severe health issues as there were mice droppings, cockroaches were present in the kitchen and that its walls and ceilings were covered in black mould, they also discovered that the bathrooms were in a disgusting state.

The landlord appeared in the Ealing Magistrate Court on April 8th and was found guilty of eleven offences. He received an order to pay £6,750 in fines, £3,353.48 for the council's costs for the case and a £120 victim surcharge, making a total of £10,223.48.

The council is now taking action to rescind his licence for renting out properties within its boundaries.

Councillor Hitesh Tailor, cabinet member for housing, skills and employment said: "This landlord showed a total disregard for the wellbeing and safety of his tenants. We will not tolerate this type of behaviour and will take tough action against landlords who leave their tenants living in unsafe and filthy accommodation.

"My message to criminal landlords is simple – we will come after you. Our new private sector strategy has signalled our intent to get tough on rogue landlords and improve conditions for residents. "