Rogue landlords create 'sheds with beds' to illegally house migrant families

London's Newham Council targeted 42 slum properties since Sep. 2011 Wretched backyard and garden sheds 'little bigger than rabbit hutches' Enforcement notices order the owners to take down the illegal buildings

By Mark Duell

PUBLISHED: 07:07 EST, 12 February 2013 | UPDATED: 11:33 EST, 12 February 2013

Landlords in one of Britain's poorest areas are exploiting vulnerable families by building tiny 'sheds with beds' in back gardens to house them in.

Newham Council in East London has handed out 42 enforcement notices to slum property owners since September 2011, with the growing problem especially bad in the borough.

The wretched backyard and garden sheds, described as little bigger than rabbit hutches, have been described as dragging London back to the notorious Victorian slum tenements of the 19th century.

East End slums: This is the ramshackle inside of a shed on Tower Hamlets Road in Forest Gate, east London

Home: The wretched backyard and garden sheds, described as 'little bigger than rabbit hutches', have been described as dragging London back to Victorian times. This hut is on Tower Hamlets Road in Forest Gate

More and more desperate migrant families have been forced to set up home in cramped wooden sheds crammed into small gardens, which are being rented out by unscrupulous private landlords.

They are ruthlessly exploiting a housing crisis and often charging hundreds of pounds a month for the dilapidated huts. Many shed homes have appeared in East Ham, Newham and Forest Gate.

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Rogue landlords create 'sheds with beds' to illegally house migrant families