A sub-letting tenant who unbeknown to her landlord has been found guilty of housing vulnerable immigrants in an unlicenced and unsafe HMO, has been served with two Rent Repayment Orders to the tune of £15,000.

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The guilty party a cleaner from Portugal Sonia Nascimento who claims to have no English speaking skills, paid her monthly rent to the landlord of £2,050 and then flitted off to Brazil.

She left her son with the responsibility of finding tenants and pay the rent in the Willesden four bedroomed flat.

Brazilian, Mayara Cacciatore, moved into the four bedroomed flat in November 2018 with her husband and young baby, cleaned the house in return for £40 a week deduction from her weekly rent of £203.

Another couple moved into the property in August 2020, Germano Poli, an Italian, and his wife at a weekly rent of £183.

Four couples lived in each of the flats bedrooms and had to ‘accept’ sharing a single toilet, kitchen and bathroom.

A First Tier Property Tribunal was told by Mr Poli that the front door’s lock was broken and he had to buy his own oven which was kept in the kitchen.

Ms Cacciatore told the Tribunal that the tenants had to mend or fix issues themselves and she had to mend a broken showerhead using a plastic bag However when the boiler broke down she finally met the bona fide landlord Ephraim who was surprised to learn that Nascimento was renting out the rooms.

Brent Council’s housing officers found upon inspection of the property that tenants were not provided with tenancy agreements, How to Rent checklists, Energy Performance Certificates, gas safety certificates and whose deposits had not been paid into a rent deposit scheme.

Not one of the bedrooms had smoke alarms, the flat had inadequate or broken bannisters and handrails, and the property had no fire blanket.

Nascimento pleaded guilty to five housing offences and was fined £4,000 at an earlier court hearing.

At the Tribunal she was ordered to pay Mr Poli, £4,392 and Ms Cacciatore, £10,556.