A landlord and his company have been ordered to pay out nearly £40,000 for letting out five houses in multiple occupation where the lives of the tenants were endangered.
Redbridge Council successfully secured a prosecution of landlord Amarjit Sanger, 37, after finding premises where tenants were living in High Road, Ilford, with gas leaks and poor drainage, and in cellars.
Mr Sanger, of Levett Gardens, Ilford, and his company ARJ Investments Limited, of which he is a director, pleaded guilty to a total of 75 housing act offences.
Snaresbrook Crown Court ordered them to pay fines and confiscations of £39,300 last week.
Redbridge Council discovered the five unlicensed properties, which had been poorly converted to HMOs without planning or building consent, after inspections which started in September 2011.
The council served an emergency prohibition order on one of the properties but found people living in the unsafe premises six months later.
The tenants in the properties were living in overcrowded conditions, in cellars without natural light or ventilation, with a lack of handrails or banisters and without fire rated doors.
Michelle Dunn, cabinet member for housing at Redbridge Council, said: ‘In terms of the number of offences, to date this is the largest prosecution in the history of the borough.
‘Redbridge is working hard to help drive up standards in the private rented sector and while the vast majority of landlords manage their properties well, there are some who flout the law and place their tenants’ lives at risk.’
The properties are no longer in use as HMOs and the landlord has carried out a major refurbishment programme.