Criminal Gangs subletting luxury flats in London

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Illegal Sub-letting:

London landlords with properties in Mayfair, Knightsbridge
and Belgravia are being targeted by gangs of criminals who rent their luxury
homes.

They invariably pay not rent, but let them out to a series
of mainly Middle East visitors on short stays, earning thousands of pounds in
the process.

Given the tenancy laws as they stand, it takes the landlord
up to 12 months to regain possession of their properties, whilst the criminals have
been happily raking in rent, and invariably the properties are in a poor state
of repair when they are eventually recovered.

Ironically, the Government is considering moves to make rental properties even more difficult to recover by the removal of the no-fault Section 21 provision in the 1988 Housing Act, whilst, despite clear evidence of criminal intent, the overstretched London police at Scotland Yard refuse to act claiming that tenancy problems like this are a civil matter.

Police chiefs are advising landlords and letting agents to
be extra careful when vetting tenants for these luxury accommodations, while
still refusing to intervene.

Patrick Bullick, managing director of a central London
estate agency and chair of the London branch of the National Association of
Estate Agents (NAEA) told the Sunday
Times that the rise of Airbnb and other letting websites is facilitating
this criminal activity – “thousands of properties are being misused in this way�,
he said.

One landlord quoted in the Sunday Times said that in the 5 months it took to remove the tenant
she saw 80 different people enter into short-term lets, whilst she lost around
£100,000 in legal fees, unpaid rents and repairs for the dilapidations. It took
another landlord nearly 12 months to regain possession at a cost of £70,000.

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