Searching for Cardiff's most infamous landlord
He had his licence revoked last year - but his tenants are still suffering.
If we asked you to name the places in the UK where it is hardest to get on the property ladder, where would you say? Chances are, you might say London.
While London has the UK’s highest house prices, it doesn’t mean it is the least affordable.
Last year, a report found that when average income is taken into account, Cardiff is less affordable to first-time buyers than any area of England or Scotland.
One major consequence is that Cardiff has the lowest overall rate of homeownership in Cymru.
This creates a massive over-reliance on the private rental sector.
And while many landlords are responsible, diligent operators, there are some who recognise an opportunity to enrich themselves by exploiting people desperate for a home. We set out to investigate this pervasive problem, and one man’s name appeared time and again.
This is a story that has left us questioning the system that has allowed a man to profit for decades from housing vulnerable people in dangerous accommodation.
From tenants enduring disgraceful living conditions, to homes left empty for years during a housing crisis, here’s what we found, culminating in a depressing encounter with the man himself.
The landlord who ‘repeatedly put tenants' lives at risk’
There was a sense of Groundhog Day earlier this year when Cardiff Council issued a press release about Nazir Ahmed’s latest conviction.
For three decades, the 69-year-old from Roath has been in a cycle of committing appalling housing offences, getting fined thousands of pounds, then continuing to operate in much the same manner.
As far back as 2004, Mr Ahmed was described by the council as an "infamous" landlord who had “repeatedly put tenants' lives at risk” by ignoring safety warnings from officials. By that time he already had 21 housing crimes on his record.
In the years since, his name has remained familiar to Cardiff Magistrates’ Court, though he hasn’t always turned up for sentencing.
In February last year, his landlord licence was revoked because the Rent Smart Wales authority no longer deemed him a fit and proper person. It takes a lot for that power to be used – only 22 landlords across Wales have been on the receiving end of the sanction for that reason in the last decade, and it hasn't happened at all in the last 20 months. Although in the last three months there have been two landlord revocations, and five licensed agent revocations, for other reasons.
The loss of Mr Ahmed’s licence did not stop his offending. In May this year he was back in court with a £1,080 fine after inspectors found serious hazards at one of his properties, which had been illegally sub-divided into tiny flats.
Last year his daughter, Sabeen Akbar, became the “licensed agent” for his properties. She herself is now under a “fit and proper person” investigation, which she told us was prompted by a tenant’s complaint of a rodent infestation.
We decided to visit all the Cardiff properties we could find that are owned by Mr Ahmed and managed by Ms Akbar.
‘There’s water coming through the ceiling in more than one place’
Poring over records of Mr Ahmed’s past cases, we scrolled past the numerous motoring charges he’d faced down the years and found addresses for four of the properties from his housing cases.
On Albany Road in Roath, we visited a building with two shops on the ground floor, two flats on the floor above, and another two flats on the top floor. For more than three years, those flats have been under an improvement notice, issued because of fire and electricity hazards, uneven stairs, and an insecure front door.
When we arrived, the cafe on the ground floor had been closed for three days for repairs to the flooring. Inside was a workman who asked me to wait outside while we spoke, gesturing at the freshly painted floor under his plastic shoe covers. The floor was being relaid due to “horrendous” damp causing cracks in the concrete and timber substrate, he said.
A cafe employee later told us the business would have picked a different site had they been aware of its structural issues, for which the cafe has shouldered repair costs.
When we moved along to the building’s residential entrance, a business card for a roofer was resting on the front door. I called the number and he explained he’d been called out to the property the week before by Ms Akbar, who wanted him to look at damage to the roof.
He said he’d declined to take the job because of the condition of one of the top-floor flats, which was tenanted but in his view unfit for human habitation.
He told us:
“If Rent Smart Wales were to do an inspection of that flat, there’s no way they’d find it inhabitable.
“There’s water coming through the ceiling in more than one place. It smells mouldy. They’ve tried to stop the damp by sticking plastic bathroom cladding in the bedroom, but water’s dripping down the ceiling and running down the walls.
“The tenant’s bed was just a bare mattress on the floor. He was worried he’d be kicked out if he said anything about the conditions. He was nearly crying.”
We weren’t able to speak to that tenant (who we understand has since left the property) but we did meet Andy Kulak, a 35-year-old who has been living on the first floor since April last year.
As we entered the building, Andy pointed to the inner side of the front door. The lock was missing two screws, and the door was in a jagged frame with wood splintering off and screws exposed.
Andy said the damage was from a former tenant trying to kick down the door one night.
“The landlord’s version of replacing it was putting a very thin bit of wood here,” he said. “It’s not secure at all.”
Every minute or so, our conversation was interrupted by a piercingly loud beep from a smoke alarm which didn't appear to be functioning properly.
“That’s been happening for months,” said Andy. “I have ADHD and autism, and one of my triggers is sound. I have to try to fall asleep between the beeps.”
In a corner at the bottom of the stairs there were empty drink cans, rags and bits of wood concealing what looked like a hole in the wall. The floor and the stairs were filthy, the lights didn’t work on the landing of the top floor, and there was a strong smell of damp.
On the landing outside Andy’s flat on the first floor, a piece of chipboard almost high enough to reach the ceiling had been propped up against the wall for months.
When Andy first moved into the flat he found his things infested with bedbugs – an issue he’d never experienced before – and he also said he’d seen cockroaches in the building.
“There’s a complete lack of care for tenants,” he said. “The radiator in my flat hasn’t worked since the start of the year. My window doesn’t close fully. Last winter I was horrendously cold and now it’s getting colder again.”
Back in August, water was leaking through the ceiling of Andy’s flat for around two days. He showed us a video of it pouring through the cladding.
The leak in Andy's flat, August 2026
Andy has rarely spoken to Mr Ahmed; his main point of contact has been Ms Akbar. When Andy told her that he’d waited in all day for plumbers who hadn’t turned up, causing him to miss a job interview, she replied in a message which we’ve seen: “You’ve been jobless since you’ve moved in.”
Workers did attend to fix the leak. But the history of messages between Andy and Ms Akbar shows months-long stretches where his pleas for her to repair things, including the smoke alarm and front door, have been ignored.
Andy’s experiences have knocked his faith in humanity, he told us. “They make a quick buck by renting to people who are struggling, and they take advantage. They know it’s only ‘scumbags’ here.
“It should be harder for people to have landlord licences. The authorities should inspect more and keep tabs on landlords, especially when they’ve been prosecuted in the past.”
