The following passages are intended to be a warning to people or organisations contemplating future dealings with the named party. All the information contained below is evidenced and has only been placed into the public domain following lengthy attempts informally, formally and via Nottingham Solidarity Network, to secure the return of J’s deposit.
Mohammed ‘Shak’ Shakil is the former owner and landlord of a four bedroom house at 7 Alberta Terrace located in the Sherwood Rise area of Nottingham. Before moving into the property in May 2008, £650 was handed over as a deposit in order to secure the tenancy by the four tenants. This money should have been placed within one of the three national deposit protection schemes available in the UK. Upon later enquiry about whether the deposit had indeed been paid into the scheme as required, he claimed it had, but that the paperwork was located at his brother’s house. He also failed to provide an inventory of the contents of the property.
Upon moving in, it became apparent that users of hard drugs had lived in the property previously. This was evidenced by burn marks on the carpet and finding several burnt drinks cans. There was also graffiti in the cellar. At first, aside from the problematic electrics which occasionally buzzed in the bathroom and caused light bulbs and the fuse box to trip, the house was maintained to a good standard. However, towards the end of the tenancy the landlord did not fix the upstairs shower despite numerous requests. By the time the tenants moved out, further deterioration of the property had occurred, with the kitchen roof leaking, the heating not functioning and ceiling cladding falling to the ground.
During the residency period we were visited once a month and rent was handed over to Shak in person. If we wished to contact Shak, we had to ring a constantly changing mobile number. He was also using the address to have his correspondence posted to and then collecting it at the same time as the rent. The reasons for this soon become obvious as the letters were from a number of collection agencies. On one occasion agents of the court arrived to issue a court summons.
During the period we were living in the flat, Shak only put the names of two residents down on the tenancy agreement. We believe this was because he wanted to avoid having to secure a multiple occupancy licence. Shak increased the rent on the property from £650 to £700 per month in October 2011. Upon insisting that the new tenancy agreement be issued to reflect this change, it was issued without a single named tenant on the agreement. He also failed to inform his mortgage provider, Northern Rock, that there were tenants staying in the building, claiming that he was still a resident in the property. They confirmed that us notifying them of our presence as tenants in the property was the first they had heard of this and stated that his mortgage did not allow this arrangement.
Just before Christmas, upon receiving an eviction notice from Northern Rock, we learnt that Shak had failed to pay the mortgage on the property for the last six months and the house was being repossessed. Shak continued to protest, claiming this was a mix up and that the matter would be resolved. He also promised on numerous occasions to return our deposit. Upon threatening to not pay our final month’s rent, he claimed that if we did this he would definitely lose the house. Not wanting to be responsible for this, we handed over the cash. In retrospect this was naive.
As matters progressed it became evident the house was definitely going to be repossessed. At this point Shak arrived with a friend when only one tenant was in the house and said he was removing the furniture and fittings from the flat to sell, in order to secure us our deposit. This was out of the question, as we still required essential items like toilets and central heating in order to live in the property! After an argument he eventually agreed to leave. When we notified Shak of our intention to vacate the property, he gutted the property, including ripping out floorboards, toilet fittings and copper wiring from the walls. Upon asking for the return of our deposit for a final time, he replied with a text beginning, “lol” and claimed we had damaged his house. He refused to pay us any money at all.
Shak previously ran The Pawnbrokers Ltd located at 77 Mansfield Road before it entered insolvency. He has previously temped via Manpower employment agency in a customer services role for Eon at Loxley House in Nottingham city centre and currently does cash in hand work at NAD’s takeaway in Carrington, owned by his brother-in-law. His current whereabouts are unknown and we have never received any notification of where he actually resides. Our best guess is that he currently resides at his sister’s property, also in Carrington.
Shak has also threatened violence against former tenants after the Nottingham Solidarity Network phone blockade against NADs takeaway. Upon moving out we have learned that he has been slandering the former residents of the property by informing his friends and acquaintances that, contrary to events, he was willing to pay us our deposit back until he discovered we had sold his furniture and trashed his house. We strongly dispute this version of events and would advise any people having future dealings with him to be aware of his consistent deceitfulness, intransigence and manipulation during our relationship with him.