Gareth Jones was illegally evicted from a property that he had lived in with friends for nearly four years.

The 37-year-old explained that after the Walthamstow flat he lived in failed a routine inspection, the landlord ordered them to leave without providing proper time to do so. After learning the landlord had never had a licence, he then began to illegally cut water and gas in the dead of the night to intimidate them, and force them out.

On another day Mr Jones woke up with a random man in the living room who refused to leave, simply saying “ the boss sent me ”.

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Mr Jones told the Sunday Mirror : “The council gave him a stay of eviction for our benefit, to fix everything, so gave him a certain amount of time. We stayed there for another month, then they did an inspection again, didn’t clear him, so he tried to force us out.

“He basically went to the stopcock and turned the water off in the middle of the night, illegally. He did this two or more three times, same with the electricity, and the same with electricity.

"He had people come in and take the doors of the toilets as they needed repairs in the bathrooms, purely to make us uncomfortable. People don’t realise how much rights they have, and what techniques the landlords will use to get them out.”

Eventually the landlord went in when they were out and changed the locks, dumping belongings including TVs, PS5's, and personal documents into the street.

Mr Jones added: “I’ve got depression anyway, but it had a massive effect on me mentally.

“I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t keep myself together, I was breaking down at work as I didn’t know if I’m going to go home to a home. I had to rebuild my life after that, get a new job, move to a new area. It had a massive impact on my girlfriend, we were supposed to get married. It was truly devastating”.

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