So, cannot say which thread, as I don’t wish to break any rules, but I thank the OP as her thread incorporates “rogue landlords”.
Whilst working in partnership with a large local authority, I came across a landlord who owned extensive HMOs, all very close together in a large town in Essex.
They were utilised by both bail hostels to move on newly released prisoners and other mainly unemployed people, mainly men.
I visited several of his buildings.
These properties were pretty grim. The facilities were awful, the rooms were tiny, especially the single rooms and all most of them were supplied with were a bed and a chest of drawers.
Shared kitchen (just one) shared bathrooms, normally two.
Most of these rooms were funded by housing benefit, at that time paid directly to the landlord.
He Cwas making an absolute fortune, he had a gang of “heavies”, who dealt with any “issues” or “trouble making tenants” and he also maintained a persona of being a good and honest suited and booted businessman.
He was a vile, horrible greedy man.
Similarly, DD2 first real job was as a “guest services assistant”, in the same town, in a very large block of 1 and 2 bed room flats.
On the surface of things it all looked very nice and these were owned, along with a couple of blocks in London and some London hotels, by a very wealthy foreign born businessman.
Not only were many of the flats rented to care leavers via expensive agencies, those rented to working people came with a hefty service charge for services provided by DD1 and her colleagues who were responsible for liaising with paid service providers for things like boiler repairs, electrical faults etc etc. So poor were these companies that one poor resident, an elderly man, was left in winter with no hot water or heating for several weeks.
When lockdown hit, DD2 and some colleagues were “let go” rather than furloughed, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if furlough was claimed on their behalf.
Again housing benefit paid the rents for at least 25% of these residents.
