
Mrs H answered an ad in a West London paper for a room to let in a private shared house with 4 other privately renting tenants. Mrs H has a number of disabilities including Autism and displayed behaviours of person who it could be seen had disabilities even to a layperson. The private sector landlord would have been aware of the disabilities and they were glaringly obvious to the untrained clinician. The landlord took advantage of the tenant by allowing the room to be let for 23 years. It was discovered that the landlord had no Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) License and operated illegally. The tenant complained to the Local Authority who initially dismissed the tenant’s claim the room was too small and found it perfectly reasonable to continue to occupy. Advice Resolutions submitted a number of housing reviews for urgent reviews, all but the last and final one being turned down. We contacted the CEO of the Local Authority to investigate the case by instructing the Private Sector housing department to undertake a visit to the private room let. Subsequently, the room occupied by the tenant was discovered as measuring 3.88m2 which was an illegal room let. In addition, the room was never decorated in all the time it was tenanted and the walls were full of mould and damp in a considerably uninhabitable state. The room was then subject immediately to a prohibition order attached to the door. Our client was rehoused within one month of the illegal room let discovery. The practice of illegal room lets will continue to occur as long as private landlords are permitted to simply lodge an application for letting their properties without them being first inspected in person by the Local Authority.