This is the tiny shed with bed – occupied at one time by five adult men – which Newham Council has this week demolished.

It was one of the first sheds with beds in the country to be razed under the Housing Act.

The illegal building, at the back of a ramshackle semi-detached house on Victoria Avenue, East Ham, measured no more than 13 metres square and was just yards from a Tube line.

It had no heating or insulation and only one window.

And so Newham’s Shedbusters squad moved into action

Newham Council’s Ian Corbett, Executive Member for Infrastructure and Environment, said: “We want to ensure that private sector rented properties are well managed and meet a good standard. We also want to deal with the crime and anti-social behaviour that is sometimes associated with bad private sector rented housing.

“One bad house can drag down a whole street and we are doing this for the community.

“There are good landlords in Newham and we want to work with them. Unfortunately there are also some unscrupulous ones – and these are the ones we are targetting.

“We will never accept private sector tenants being directly exploited by landlords who force them to live in dangerous and unacceptable conditions.”

“Good landlords have nothing to fear. For the bad ones, we have a clear message: clean up your act or pay the price.”