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Magistrates handed down a £50,000 fine to a landlord who crammed tenants into a shabby, overcrowded home.
Eight people, including two children under 13 years old, lived in the semi-detached home rated for five people in Vivian Road, Brent, North London, for which they paid £3,500 a month rent to landlord Sanjay Patel.
Magistrates at Willesden, North London, heard a catalogue of horrors about the property. Brent Council housing officers found a rat infestation, leaks, a broken toilet, faulty doors, mould on the walls and ceilings, and blocked fire escape routes.
Patel was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £49,495 for letting an unlicensed house in multiple occupation (HMO) and other housing offences.
Housing officers realised that a home in Camberwell, Southwark, that should have had a selective licence was being illegally rented out.
The offence was uncovered when the tenants reported problems with the heating that they could not resolve with the landlord.
Landlord Rashidat Mohammed and letting agent Tunde Coker of Alpha Property Services, Southwark, pleaded guilty to renting out the unlicensed property at Croydon Magistrates Court.
Mohammed was ordered to pay fines and costs of £1,128, while Coker must pay £2,256.
A tenant who posed as a landlord to sublet a council flat for £575 a month rent was ordered to pay £3,422 in fines and costs and told to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work under a 12-month community order.
Isaac Meggoe admitted social housing fraud at Dudley Magistrates Court, West Midlands.
When housing officers visited, the court was told Meggoe staged the flat to look like he was living there and had applied to buy the property with a 64 per cent discount under a right-to-buy scheme.
However, he was renting the home and pocketing the cash. His plot was revealed when he illegally evicted a tenant who tipped off housing officers about the subletting.
Wolverhampton Council has made an application to repossess the property.
A repeat housing offender must pay £50,200 in fines and costs for running two HMOs in Camden, North London.
Alvaro Odeh-Torro and his letting company, London Living Group Limited, pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court to several housing offences relating to the two properties.
Camden Council has had previous housing compliance investigations involving Odeh-Torro and other companies he runs.
One property was occupied by more households than the HMO licence authorised and had health and safety issues.
The other property had an undersized room that flouted HMO licence conditions.
Mr Odeh-Torro and London Living Limited also admitted to providing false or misleading information relating to rent paid by the tenants.