EXCLUSIVE My tenant has been secretly renting my own home on Airbnb: Woman 'gob smacked' to discover fitness influencer was packing east London flat with tourists for £190 a night while jetting off on luxury holidays to Dubai Has this happened to YOU? Email arthur.parashar@mailonline.co.
uk By Arthur Parashar Published: 04:02 EDT, 8 September 2024 | Updated: 04:45 EDT, 8 September 2024 e-mail 25 shares 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.