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£40,000 annual rent for a house with a tree growing in it
Up to eight people were housed in “appalling and dangerous” conditions in a property that had been illegally converted into flats, and actually belonged to a council even though a landlord was allegedly charging rent for it.
Council officers from Lambeth in south London, who took back possession of the property in Clapham, found that it had been transformed from a three-bedroomed home to a House in Multiple Occupation with eight rooms pulling in an estimated £40,000 a year in rent.
A large branch from a nearby tree was growing into one of the rooms and the occupants were using electricity from a cable passed through a hole drilled in the branch.
The house did not have clear and suitable emergency exits. All eight occupants had to share a single bath and toilet.
The terraced house was a “shortlife” property, one of 1,200 licensed to housing associations and cooperatives on a short-term basis in the 1970s, on the understanding that they would be returned to the council.
An electrician contracted by the council to make the property safe said unsecured cables and unsafe connections made it the most dangerous site he’d seen in 35 years and it was a miracle that no one had been electrocuted.
