Stories of horror conditions in the HMO sector are widespread – mostly, but by no means always, involving landlords managing their own properties.

Here are two very recent cases, found without difficulty online.

In the first, a landlord’s property has been seized by the local council after a total of 16 people were found to be living in the three-storey home.

Waltham Forest Council in east London said that the property had been illegally split into five separate units. An interim management order has been served on the unnamed landlord who had been charging the tenants a total monthly rent of over £4,000, and had not paid council tax in four years.

The tenants will now pay rent directly to Waltham Forest Council which will repair the building, which was licensed as an HMO until July 2015, when its licence was revoked.

Among the people at the property were four living in a garden shed.

Cllr Khevyn Limbajee, Cabinet member for housing, said: “It’s obviously a last resort for us to have to take control of a property away from its owner, but we were given no choice due to this landlord’s poor attitude and lack of concern for the safety of his tenants.”

The council says it changed the locks of the building after serving the order.

The aim is to bring the property up to standard, so that it can be relicensed and controlled by an agent.

In a second disturbing case, a landlord who illegally divided up a flat into 14 bedsits occupied by 18 people has been hit with a bill of over £160,000.

The landlord, Abbas Rasul, was taking in monthly rent of almost £15,000, in Kensington, London. The over-crowded property had no fire doors, smoke detectors or alarms, and had unsafe electrics.

Rasull and his companies were found guilty at Hammersmith Magistrates Court of failing to license an HMO and breaching 22 housing regulations.

He, Grosvenor Property Investments and London Victoria Estates were fined a total of £162,000 and ordered to pay £3,498 in costs.

A company called London Victoria Estates, a holiday lettings company, has previously attracted unfavourable reviews and coverage. A company called Grosvenor Property Investments appears to have had agency classification.