A new analysis reveals that more than one in four houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in England that require a licence are operating illegally. The findings, from campaign group Generation Rent, highlight a growing scandal in the private rental sector where landlords flout regulations with impunity.
One case in point is a Victorian townhouse in Bowes Park, north London, which has been illegally subdivided into 11 cramped rooms. Eunice Osei, a cleaner for Network Rail, pays £1,147 a month for a tiny room with a kitchenette, toilet and bed. She describes mould, mice and raw sewage flooding her bathroom, yet the landlord refuses to carry out repairs.
The landlord, Andreas Stavrou Antoniades, bought the house in the 1990s for around £100,000. After Haringey Council refused permission to turn it into an HMO, he rented the rooms without a licence. He has been taken to court three times, but fines were minimal—£20,000 in 2015, less than two months' rent from the property.
Antoniades boasts of letting 130 rooms at a time, and Companies House records suggest a portfolio of about 20 houses in north London worth over £20 million. Several properties do not appear on the local HMO register, indicating further illegal operations.
The scandal reflects a systemic failure, with weak enforcement and low penalties enabling landlords to profit from substandard housing. For tenants like Osei, who works early shifts and volunteers at a church, the conditions are a source of shame and distress. “I’ve not been treated fairly,” she says, pleading for help.
