A landlord has been hit with a £90,000 fine after 21 people — including three children and a 10-month-old baby — were found crammed into a cockroach-infested house in Wembley, in one of the worst overcrowding cases uncovered by Brent Council.
The appalling conditions at 50 Bassingham Road came to light after tenants raised the alarm with the council, prompting a formal investigation. Officers who inspected the property found it was housing more than twice the number of people permitted under its licence, with families living amid a cockroach infestation, broken kitchen facilities and serious fire safety failings.
Meet Valand, the property manager and licence holder, was convicted of seven offences and fined £40,000. He was also ordered to pay a £2,000 victim surcharge and £3,183.85 in prosecution costs.
Vispap Sarkari, who managed the property day to day and collected rent from tenants, was also convicted. He was fined £50,000, with an additional £2,000 victim surcharge and £3,183.85 in costs — taking the combined fines in the case to £90,000.
Category 1 danger and fire safety failures
The court found the failings amounted to Category 1 harm — the most serious level of housing hazard — with particular risks linked to fire safety. Investigators uncovered a cockroach infestation, fire safety breaches and inadequate kitchen facilities, including broken stoves and missing doors.
Officers also found problems with fire alarms, fire safety equipment and escape routes, alongside a damaged porch door and cracked bathroom fixtures. The court heard Mr Sarkari had failed to meet even the most basic safety and maintenance standards. Fire safety failings continue to blight rented housing across the capital — in Poplar, residents of a fire-hit tower were left “still in hotels” a week on, stuck in “limbo”.
Mr Sarkari was found to have used multiple aliases and had links to Mr Sanjay Patel, who was recently handed a five-year banning order. Described as a repeat offender with a history of housing offences, he is now eligible for a banning order himself, following his conviction for housing offences in March 2026 and these latest findings.
Council warning to rogue landlords
Councillor Robert Johnson said the convictions should serve as a warning to landlords and property managers across the borough. “These convictions should serve as a warning to any landlord or property manager in Brent who chooses to ignore their responsibilities and put profit before people,” he said.
“Residents deserve safe, secure housing and are encouraged to report poor conditions or unlawful practices so we can protect tenants and hold landlords to account,” he added. “Property licencing is a key tool in helping the council raise housing standards, improve living conditions and tackle rogue landlords.”
A Brent Council spokesperson said all landlords renting out properties in the borough — with the exception of single household properties in Wembley Park — must hold a licence, adding that enforcement is being stepped up and unlicensed landlords could face substantial fines or prosecution.
Following the council’s intervention, the owner of the Bassingham Road property has made significant improvements and continues to work with the council to ensure it meets the conditions of its HMO licence.
Rogue landlord crackdowns across London
The Wembley case is the latest in a series of heavy penalties imposed on rogue landlords across the capital, as borough councils step up enforcement against dangerous and overcrowded homes. Alongside prosecutions, councils are investing in new supply — including 326 social rent homes for Ilford backed by GLA grant funding — while others are reforming how social housing is allocated, as Southwark’s new five-band allocation system shows.
Many London boroughs, including Brent, run licensing schemes requiring landlords of houses in multiple occupation — and in some areas all private rented homes — to hold a licence and meet minimum standards. Breaching licence conditions, or letting a property without the required licence, can lead to prosecution, hefty fines and, for the worst offenders, banning orders preventing them from letting property at all.
Know your rights: how to report a bad landlord
Tenants living in unsafe or overcrowded conditions do not have to suffer in silence. Concerns can be reported to the local council’s housing enforcement or environmental health team, which has powers to inspect properties, order improvements and prosecute landlords who break the law — exactly as happened after the Wembley tenants raised the alarm.
Free advice is available from charities such as Shelter on repairs, harassment and eviction rights, while the Mayor of London’s rogue landlord and agent checker lets renters look up landlords and letting agents with a history of enforcement action. Anyone worried about dangerous conditions should contact their borough council directly: early reports can trigger the kind of inspection that brought the Bassingham Road case to court.
