London slum landlord crammed 40 tenants into 4-bed home, including in lean-to shack with no heating or lighting
16 August 2023, 15:27
A slum landlord housed 40 tenants in a four-bedroom home in north-west London, including in a lean-to shack with no heating or lighting.
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Jaydipkumar Rameshchandra Valand has been banned from letting out homes and doing any property management work in England for the next five years.
Valand could face jail if he breaks the order.
He was one of four landlords who made £360,000 by packing the tenants into the terraced house on Napier Road in Wembley in 2018.
Valand was slapped with a £5,000 confiscation order, but did not change his ways.
He was later fined £30,000 after a 2022 investigation found that he had been renting out a home that was unhygienic and unsafe - including breaking fire safety rules.
Valand was making £1,400 from that property.
The rogue landlord also claimed that he didn't own a business in the UK, but officers for Brent Council, his local authority, proved this wasn't true.
Councillor Muhammed Butt, Brent Council's leader, said: "This is the first ban we have issued since Brent was given the powers in April 2018 to ban serial rogue landlords under the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
"If Jaydipkumar Valand breaches his five-year ban, he will face a prison sentence.
“Brent Council takes a zero-tolerance policy against rogue landlords such as this, and we will use everything in our powers to hold them to account to safeguard our vulnerable residents.
