The ‘rogue landlords’ of a semi-detached house where 35 men were found living illegally in squalor are two doctor brothers and their mother who live a luxury lifestyle, MailOnline can reveal.
Council officials and police who raided the house on Tuesday were shocked to discover the huge number of Eastern European tenants sleeping on mattresses which were crammed on to the floor of almost every room.
Brent Council has now launched an investigation into the landlords of the property in Winchester Avenue, Queensbury, north west London.
Council leaders condemned it as a ‘shocking’ and ‘shameful’ example of a ‘rogue landlord’ exploiting needy people.
A MailOnline investigation found that the wealthy owners of the house have a family home worth £1.5 million which is in stark contrast to their rented out property.
Land Registry records confirm that the house which was raided is jointly owned by Neil Hathi, 31, and his brother Sunil, 30, who both work as doctors and their mother Meenaxi Hathi.
Mrs Hathi who lives in a five bedroom detached house which has two Mercedes cars parked in the driveway in leafy Brockley Avenue in Stanmore, Middlesex.
The ‘rogue landlords’ of a semi-detached house where 35 men were found living illegally in squalor are two doctor brothers and their mother who live a luxury lifestyle, MailOnline can reveal
Land Registry records confirm that the house which was raided is jointly owned by Neil Hathi, 31, and his brother Sunil, 30, who both work as doctors and their mother Meenaxi Hathi, who lives in home worth £1.5 million in north London (above)
Council leaders condemned it as a ‘shocking’ and ‘shameful’ example of a ‘rogue landlord’ exploiting needy people.
Council officials and police who raided the house on Tuesday were shocked to discover the huge number of Eastern European tenants sleeping on mattresses which were crammed on to the floor of almost every room
Her businessman husband Sudhir Hathi insisted that the family had no knowledge of the home being lived in by 35 people.
He insisted that he believed there were only three tenants.
Mr Hathi, who also has a property rental company and has worked in the motor trade, said he had rented out the house privately to a couple and another man around six-weeks ago and thought they were the only people there.
He said: ‘I am very angry with Brent Council for putting out a statement calling me a rogue landlord which is totally out of order.
‘They also said they were trying to trace me which implied I had run away. But if they just looked on the Land Registry they would find out where I lived.
‘I am not going to do a runner as I have a house worth a lot of money. I am not trying to run away from anything.’
He said that ‘to add insult to injury’, he had left a phone message and emailed the council official dealing with the case, but nobody had replied to him.
Mr Hathi who described the house as a ‘family investment’, added: ‘I am really a victim here. What they are saying is wrong.
‘We are not into cheap accommodation. It’s not our line of business. We do property development, and bigger and better things.
‘This house is a decent property. We are not people who would rent out sub standard accommodation.’
He said he had known one of the tenants for around seven years as he had done some DIY work for him.
Sudhir Hathi, husband of Meena Hathi, insisted that the family had no knowledge of the home being lived in by 35 people. He insisted that he believed there were only three tenants. Pictured: Sunil Hathi enjoying a holiday in the sun
Sunil’s Facebook profile shows pictures of him scuba-diving and skiing and posing for photographs in exotic holiday destinations
Holidays: Owner Sunil, who is a doctor at Bedford Hospital, posts a photo of him on a skiing trip and exotic getaways on Facebook
Speaking at his family’s home. he said: ‘It’s probably best to talk to my father if you want to know anything. I don’t know anything about it to be honest.’ He later left the house in one of the Mercedes cars without commenting further
Mr Hathi said the man had asked him if he had anywhere he could live, so he rented out the house privately to him and his partner, and a third man.
He claimed that the couple then went away on holiday and the third man in the house brought in the other tenants without telling anyone.
Mr Hathi said: ‘I was not aware there was anybody else there. I was absolutely shocked to find out what happened. It was unbelievable.
‘A friend called me last night to say he had seen the house on the news. I then looked at the details on the council website.
‘I spoke to the tenant who I know this morning. He was not aware as well. He is now staying with his father who is not well. I can’t get hold of the third tenant. His phone is switched off. His van is still outside the house.’
His son Sunil who describes himself on Facebook as a doctor at Bedford Hospital said he was aware of the raid on his property.
Speaking at his family’s home. he said: ‘It’s probably best to talk to my father if you want to know anything. I don’t know anything about it to be honest.’
He later left the house in one of the Mercedes cars without commenting further.
Around an hour later his mother also made no comment as she left the house in the second Mercedes.
Sunil’s Facebook profile shows pictures of him scuba-diving and skiing and posing for photographs in exotic holiday destinations.
Mr Hathi said he had rented out the house privately to a couple and another man around six-weeks ago and thought they were the only people there. He said: ‘I am very angry with Brent Council for putting out a statement calling me a rogue landlord which is totally out of order’
Mr Hathi said the man had asked him if he had anywhere he could live, so he rented out the house privately to him and his partner, and a third man. He claimed that the couple went away on holiday and the third man brought in the other tenants without telling anyone
A near neighbour of the house in Queensbury said new tenants arrived a couple of months ago. ‘At first there were only a few guys, but then there began to be more. They had a big party in the garden around four to five weeks ago which went on until 3 am on a Sunday night’
The neighbour added: ‘ There were loads of people drinking and playing loud music, keeping everyone awake. My daughter complained to the council environmental health about the noise’
A spokesman for Brent Council said the raid on the house was carried out just before 6am on Tuesday after neighbours complained about overcrowding, anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping
A near neighbour of the house in Queensbury who asked not to be named, said: ‘I had no idea how many people were living there – but I knew it was quite a lot. They were probably going in and out a lot at night.
‘The house was owed by a family who lived there until they sold it about five-or-six years-ago. It was then rented out and some new tenants arrived a couple of months ago.
‘At first there were only a few guys, but then there began to be more. They had a big party in the garden around four to five weeks ago which went on until 3 am on a Sunday night.
‘There were loads of people drinking and playing loud music, keeping everyone awake. My daughter complained to the council environmental health about the noise.
‘The next morning there was a man outside the house who said he was an agent looking after it.
‘Then around two-weeks-ago, this tent appeared in the back garden.’
A spokesman for Brent Council said on Wednesday the raid on the house was carried out just before 6am on Tuesday after neighbours complained about overcrowding, anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping.
Council enforcement officers and police found the 35 men bedding down on mattresses in every room except the bathrooms.
The spokesperson said: ‘Eight men were found sleeping in one of the rooms that was decked wall to wall with mattresses.
‘Even the kitchen contained a sleeping area, while another mattress was found laid out under a canopy in the back garden with no protection against the night temperatures.’
Last week, Brent Council voted in new civil penalty measures to fine rogue landlords up to £30,000 for housing law breaches, such as renting out unlicensed properties. A spokesman said : ‘We are trying to establish who the landlord was and who was passing money to who’
The house which originally had three bedrooms was recently renovated with a loft extension to create two extra rooms in the attic, making a total of five bedrooms
The house which originally had three bedrooms was recently renovated with a loft extension to create two extra rooms in the attic, making a total of five bedrooms.
Cllr Harbi Farah, the council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Welfare Reform, said: ‘Rogue landlords make their money by exploiting people who can least afford it – it’s a shameful practice and this is an especially shocking example.
‘Any landlord treating their tenants unfairly should be in notice – we’re coming for you.’
Last week, Brent Council voted in new civil penalty measures to fine rogue landlords up to £30,000 for housing law breaches, such as renting out unlicensed properties.
A spokesman said : ‘We are trying to track down all the middle men involved in this property. We are trying to establish who the landlord was and who was passing money to who.
‘We have had prosecutions in the past where both the owner and the manager of a property have been fined.
‘It depends on what the contracts say. The onus is usually on the landlord, but there have been cases where a sub-letter is prosecuted if a landlord does not know what is going on.’
A MailOnline reporter found at least two Romanian men still living in the house in Queensbury when he knocked on the door today.
One of the men who claimed he could only speak very poor English, shrugged his shoulders, when he was asked about the raid. He would only say: ‘I cannot talk. You will have to talk to the Boss. I don’t know when he is around.’
Sandra Kabir, 67, a Labour councillor in Brent who lives a few doors away from the property, said: ‘I knew there were a lot of people there, but I had no idea that there were 35 men.
‘I was not aware of any trouble with them. You could only tell there were a lot of people there because the wheelie bins would be full within 48 hours and rubbish in bags would pile up.’