A Harrow landlord whose tenants lived in filth, surrounded by vermin and with raw sewage leaking on to the High Street has been fined.

Harrow Council prosecuted the landlord, Milegate Ltd, after the property was found in the disgusting state, "like something from a Dickens novel".

Rats, mice and cockroaches were among the vermin that plagued the Edgware High Street home, which gave housing enforcement officers a "nasty shock".

Water leaked from the ceiling of the home while outside, a broken sewage drain caused raw sewage to leak out from the home into the high street.

The filthy home had raw sewage leaking on to the high street

In addition to the sewage, the outside area was overflowing with dumped rubbish.

After the company failed to heed warnings from Harrow Council to disinfect the home, remove infestation and fix leaks, they were taken to Willesden Magistrates' Court on September 25.

At the court, Milegate Ltd pleaded guilty to two offences, failing to deal with and remove infestation and failing to undertake works to fix drainage.

The company was fined £9,000 for ignoring Harrow Council's demands for improvement.

Milegate was fined £9,000 after failing to heed warnings from Harrow Council

Cllr Varsha Parmar, portfolio holder for environment said: “Can you imagine living every day with the stink of sewage and the skittering about of cockroaches and rats? And a landlord who just won’t do anything about it?

"It’s like something out of a Dickens novel.

"We took Milegate to court and made them pay because that’s what we do when you ignore our warnings to make your property safe for tenants. Bad landlords, and tenants be warned – we’ll come after you too.”