For the last 12 years, landlord Leanne Newton has rented her one-bedroom flat to student doctors, teachers and tenants who have been thrown out of their homes.
But last Monday, the 54-year-old was left wondering whether to pack it in altogether.
This wasn’t because of surging interest rates and the looming Renters Reform Bill, it was because she had fallen victim to a brazen scammer who was unlawfully subletting her east London flat to unwitting holidaymakers to fund a life of luxury.
Ms Newton caught her tenant Ifende Uzoka, a four-time bodybuilding champion and fitness influencer who boasts of yacht trips in Dubai, flogging the Stratford flat for as much as £190-a-night on Airbnb and Booking.com.
At this nightly rate, Uzoka – who signed a tenancy from October 2023 – could make as much as £69,350-a-year despite paying Ms Newton £22,800-a-year (£1,900-a-month).
Ms Newton is now desperately trying to evict Uzoka, who calls herself MsFitQueen and runs an online clothing company with the same name.
She even featured on BBC Radio London’s ‘The Scene with Claira Hermet’, a show which ‘uncovers London’s diverse culture and emerging talent’.
Speaking exclusively to , Ms Newton said: ‘I’ve been a landlord for many, many years. I’ve had student doctors, single parents, people who’ve been thrown out and need a home. This is the first time in my whole term as a landlord that I’ve ever encountered something like this, it’s gobsmacking.’
The retired British business owner, who left the UK for France this year, explained that although Uzoka, 34, met the managing agent in person and viewed the flat herself, she never moved in when the contract started in October 2023.
It was the start of a web of lies as she quickly listed the one-bed flat as a two-bed holiday home, sleeping four people, on websites like Booking.com.
Ms Newton, who revealed the dining room has been converted into a second bedroom, said she was even able to make a booking for eight guests.
Filled with fury after finding out, she explained: ‘Aside from swear words, it was absolute shock. How could there be another house in London with similar architecture to mine and similar art to mine, but with different furniture?
‘I had heard about these sorts of scams operating, but we thought we were careful about the screening and contracts process, and we have still been bitten.
‘She’s gone through the whole application process with this fraud in mind, it’s just not bloody right.’
Booking.com reviews show the flat has been booked for a minimum of 48 nights, dating back to November – one month into the tenancy. One holidaymaker accused Uzoka of cancelling their stay ‘two minutes prior to check-in’.
Another revealed how they booked into a hotel because ‘it was so bad’. Warning people off booking, they wrote: ‘False advertising. Only 2 beds, not 3 as stated.
‘Broken furniture – 3 legged sofa & doors hanging off, wet washing hung up everywhere, tabs [cigarette] ends left, no toilet paper, bad smell in bathroom. Booking.com no help… but I haven’t finished complaining yet & expect a FULL refund. Owners ignored my messages & phonecalls.’
Ms Newton said that when she booked her own flat on Booking.com, she received a message from the ‘Bella Ruiz Team’, suggesting Ifende is using a company to manage the bookings.
The message said: ‘Thank you for choosing our place for you to stay! We’re delighted to welcome you soon. We’ll send you more information about check-in when your reservation date is sooner. In the meantime, if you feel like you have any questions or concerns, feel free to let us know and we will do our best to accomodate you.
‘We aim to make your stay as comfortable and memorable as possible. Safe travels and see you soon! Warm regards, Bella Ruiz Team.’
Bella Ruiz Team is run by filmmaker and entrepreneur Andy Amadi, who Uzoka follows on Instagram.
Explaining how Uzoka is operating, Ms Newton revealed: ‘They’ve changed out the furniture. They’ve put panels up on walls. They’ve mounted big screen TVs on walls that are not safe for that to happen in.
‘Up to eight people can actually go and rent the property, and under the Newham Council licensing laws, I could only have two. It was only ever supposed to be let to one single woman.
‘They’re advertising it as being able to take four, but when I did a booking for it, I was able to get eight in, four adults and four people aged 17.’
Ms Newton fears there could be a tragedy because the dining room that has been converted into a bedroom backs onto the kitchen.
‘There’s no fire door, there’s no safety there, there’s no safe exits, she added. ‘Right now, there are people who are staying in this property and God help me if something happened and someone got hurt or worse killed.
‘I can’t stop this from happening right now. There’s nothing I can legally do outside of the normal Section 8 and Section 21 process. There’s not even a way that I can warn holiday makers that this is not safe property for more than two, I can’t do it.’
Ms Newton revealed that Uzoka viewed the property and passed employment checks and credit checks with ‘everything appearing above board’.
However, nine months into the contract, the landlord started having to chase rental payments which were falling behind.
The tenant settled her debt, but went on to dodge further payments as well as contact with Ms Newton and the managing agent.
Unable to make contact, Ms Newton phoned the tenant’s employer on the reference check but discovered: ‘This person has never been employed by that company. It’s all a scam. ‘
Ms Newton said she made multiple attempts to meet with the tenant to discuss if there were any financial difficulties. She said: ‘Every offer of a meeting has been refused. Now I know why, because I would have walked in, immediately seen that all the furniture’s changed and known that something was going.
‘My hands are really tied.’
Companies House records show that Uzoka set up MsFitQueen in 2020 before it was struck off last November – a month into her tenancy.
Ms Newton found out last Monday that her flat was being sublet to holidaymakers without her knowledge.
‘I notified the managing agent immediately, and they shared surprise that this was happening,’ she said.
‘There was an email sent to the tenant, highlighting that subletting was unlawful and that I’d seen the property advertised on both Airbnb and Booking.com.
‘I attempted again to contact the tenant. There’s been no response to that whatsoever, and we issued an eviction notice on Friday last week.’
Ms Newton, who has owned the property since 2007 but started renting it to tenants in 2012, said: ‘I am furious. There is such a shortage of affordable housing in Stratford, and the thought that I’ve got a history of helping out paramedics, teachers, student doctors, single parents, and now I’ve got some scammer who is who is taking holiday lets at this crazy price.
‘Okay, they’re making profit, that’s one thing, but they are stopping housing for legitimate people, it’s not good enough, and our legislation is not geared to make protections for this.
‘ I treat my tenancy house and my tenants as if they’re family and it’s my home. So the thought that someone can come in and take advantage of that, it’s not very decent.’
Ms Newton said she has alerted Newham Council, Airbnb, Booking.com and the Met Police but no one is intervening.
‘They [the council] should have had an enforcement team in there last week,’ she said.
Ms Newton continued: ‘If this person has been able to get me, an experienced landlord into this type of scam, who else out there is being conned, and so you can do all the right employment checks, but if you’re given fraudulent information, how would you know?
‘And then in this instance, where this person’s been discovered partway through, under current legislation in the UK and under planned or pending legislation in the UK, how do I as a landlord get this fixed in a timely fashion, without waiting for the eviction process or even the section 21 process, and not wind up with a house gets completely trashed.
‘I can see from online photos that there are, there’s at least two doors hanging off hinges, and there’s been repeated references in reviews to cleanliness or lack thereof and blocked plumbing.
‘And I know that there are two big screen TVs from the photos that are hanging off of walls that were not designed for the weight of the big screen TV.’
Ms Newton fear’s Labour’s new legislation could make it even harder for her to get the tenant out. Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to bring forward a Renters Rights Bill to end Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions.
These changes were being considered by the then Conservative government in what was previously the Renters Reform Bill.
However, it didn’t pass before the General Election, meaning the unfinished legislation has passed to Labour.
Evicting problem tenants currently takes almost seven months to process on average, according to the National Residential Landlords Association.
A Newham Council spokesperson said: ‘We have located two online reports made in relation to a property in Fairland Road, Stratford, which we only received last week.
‘As this is a very recent report we are yet to review and respond to the landlord directly.
‘If the occupation or tenancy has been breached it is for the landlord to resolve or take the appropriate legal actions to gain possession of the property.
‘If the owner is employing a professional letting agent to manage the property, which they indicated in their correspondence, they should contact them directly.
‘We would recommend the landlord to seek legal advice.’
The Met Police said it was a matter for the local authority.
The property was removed from Airbnb when Ms Newton alerted the company that her flat was being sublet without her knowledge.
A spokesman for Airbnb said: ‘This property is not active on Airbnb. We ask all hosts to ensure that they have permission to list their space and remind them to check and follow local rules before they list and throughout the year. This is made clear in our Terms of Service and on our responsible hosting page.’
A Booking.com spokesman said: ‘When accommodation providers sign up to list on Booking.com they must agree to our terms and conditions, verifying that they are legally permitted to rent out their accommodation.
‘In the very rare instance that we might be alerted to a concern about a specific property we investigate immediately, just as we are doing in this case, and depending on the outcome of that investigation, can remove them from our platform.’
A spokesperson from Bairstow Eves commented: ‘It’s not common for a tenant to break an agreement this way, however the lack of regulation in the Airbnb market can mean it does happen.
‘When this occurs, the landlord can end the tenancy by serving notice as this is a clear breach of the terms of the tenancy agreement.’
has contacted Ifende Uzoka for comment.