Rogue Surrey landlord slapped with £14,000 fine after illegally letting three-bedroom bungalow to 14 ‘vulnerable’ workers

Nursery assistant Mona Jetwani, 53, let her home on St Pauls Road, Egham, to “vulnerable” workers for 19 months from June 2022 to December 2023.

Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) prosecuted Ms Jetwani for illegally renting out her house to multiple occupants (HMO) without the required licensing following an investigation. She admitted to 10 charges including failing to comply with fire and gas safety regulations and the rooms in the HMO were too small.

Ms Jetwani told the court she was unaware of the concept of HMOs and that she needed to apply for a license. Her defence lawyer said Ms Jetwani made a “genuine mistake” and she was “mortified” to be in court.

The nursery assistant was slammed with a penalty worth £14,000 following a hearing at Staines Magistrates Court on November 27. Pleading guilty from the start, Ms Jetwani’s initial fine was reduced from £18,000 to £12,000, with the further £2,000 added to compensate the victims.

Speaking in court as she issued the fine, District Judge Cooper said: “These people were low income, English was not their first language, and they were vulnerable. I place culpability at its highest.”

Judge Cooper concluded that Ms Jetwani profited £75,000 from the tenants. The nursery assistant denies this and said she receives a large amount of support from her family. Her defence lawyer said Ms Jetwani is also in receipt of universal credit and child benefits for her only child..

The council prosecuted Ms Jetwani after RBC was alerted by anonymous tip-offs on social media that the bungalow was overcrowded.

Officers tried to visit the site to find out how many people lived at the property on September 7, 2023. Ms Jetwani and her brother were initially aggressive and threatened to “undress a baby to create a safeguarding issue” to try and stop the visit, according to the council.

After applying for a warrant to enter the building, council workers found shoddy construction methods of partitioning rooms to create 15 “spaces”, four in the loft space and three which could only be accessed through the back door.

Some of the rooms were as small as 3.41 sqm, almost half the size of the smallest acceptable room in a HMO property at 6.51sqm.

Access to showers and toilets did not meet HMO requirements, and there was just one small kitchen and two bathrooms. Council staff found mould growing on the floor and ceiling in one bathroom, which also had penetrating damp.

Some of the 15 ‘rooms’ had large gaps in the plasterboard partitions, creating a fire risk as there was inadequate separation. Other spaces had no windows, natural light or radiators to keep warm. Limited access to the kitchen meant some of the tenants were storing food in their drawers or outside their room because of inadequate storage space.

One room was created under an overhanging roof in the converted loft and had a mattress that could only be used by crawling onto it. Officers also had to crouch or kneel to get into other rooms in the loft because the ceiling height was so low

Judge Cooper said: “Though [Ms Jetwani] may not have understood she needed a licence, she must have understood these rooms were very small, and the partitioning was inadequate. In my view the partitioning was put up in a hurry to allow [the defendant] to make the most gain from the small space.

“It was telling that in her PACE interview she didn’t refer to them as rooms but as “spaces”, which suggests she thought of them for the purposes of money-making… these were people who can’t get other accommodation. The fact that they can’t get accommodation does not mean that the accommodation provided to them should be of such a low standard.”.

Interviews with the tenants present during the inspection revealed they were paying between £85-£125 per week to live in the bungalow.

A Runnymede Council spokesperson said: “Our first thought is for the people who found themselves living in these dangerous conditions; hopefully they have found better accommodation. This bungalow was in an appalling state.

“Our environmental health staff cannot remember another incident where a landlord had tried to profit to this extent. People’s lives have been put at risk because of these living conditions and a family home was turned into a cash cow.

“People running HMOs need to do so within the rules for good reason. This prosecution came about through anonymous tip offs and we would absolutely encourage anyone else who believes an HMO is being run dangerously or without a licence to contact us. It took over a year to deal with this case but we do not give up when safety is at risk. The majority of landlords operate their properties within the law, but the sentence in this case should be a wake up call to the few who do not, wherever in the borough they are.”