A member of the City of London Corporation’s governing council and planning committee has been revealed as a key figure behind a rogue lettings agency.
Luis Tilleria was elected to the court of common council, the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation, in March this year. He stated on campaign material that he owned “an international real estate business”.
He also sits on the City’s planning and transportation committee.
Under the surname Limongi, Tilleria has been fined three times since 2014 for breaches of housing laws. Investigators discovered he was part of a network of Spanish and Italian businessmen ripping off British tenants.
Tilleria, from Ecuador and now an Italian citizen, was fined £3,000 for failing to provide information about a flat he managed in Mile End, east London, in 2014. In 2015, he was fined £4,000 after failing to provide information about a property in Limehouse, also in east London.
He was fined again in 2016 for being part of a group described as “a gang of chancers” behind rogue letting agencies which ran 92 properties across London with an estimated income of £1.25m.
The gang rented properties from legitimate landlords and divided the homes into bedsits without authorisation. Investigators at Newham council, east London, found the gang was linked to 25 businesses from January 2013.
Tilleria admitted three charges of failing to license a property as a house of multiple occupation and four charges of failing to return documents under the Housing Act 2004, and 30 charges under the HMO management regulations 2006. He was fined £18,450 and ordered to pay £10,415 in costs.
Moshiur Mian, Tilleria’s lawyer, said: “The proceedings did not result in any findings of criminality against Mr Tilleria. [He] is unaware of the alleged fine of 2015. If accurate, Mr Tilleria shall exercise his statutory entitlement to have any such proceedings set aside.”
