An Edinburgh landlord has been profiting from housing over 50 Romanian migrants in squalid conditions, an exclusive investigation by The Journal can reveal.

Dalear Singh, aged 30, has been charging migrant families from £300 to £400 per month in cash for rooms in a flat near Leith Walk where at least 50 migrants are being housed. Eleven people were occupying one of the most cramped rooms including two children aged eight and four, and a baby.

The Journal also discovered that Mr Singh—who purchased the Leith flat in 2005 for £250,000—owns another property in Edinburgh’s Portobello area where more Romanian migrant workers are believed to be living.

The migrants were moved from the flat into temporary accommodation last Friday after the council intervened as a result of The Journal's investigation.

A total of three city properties are owned by Mr Singh – one of which he lives in with his wife – with the total value of his portfolio estimated at over a half a million pounds. The monthly income from the Leith Walk property is estimated to be close to £4000, a figure far above the average rent for a flat of its type in the Leith Walk area.

The occupants, mainly of Roma origin, speak little English and have been offered no written tenancy contract by Mr Singh, a violation of housing law that allows the landlord to ignore basic rights given to legal tenants. One of the occupants described the conditions as “misery” while others made allegations of mistreatment at the hands of Mr Singh and his associates.

It has been discovered that several of the occupants have been evicted from the property in the last week despite having paid their rent. As no written contract exists between the Romanians and Mr Singh, he was free to evict occupants without warning.

After obtaining access to the flat, The Journal was informed by the occupantsthat they had been brought to Edinburgh having been promised work in the capital. One of the migrants told The Journal that a man in Romania had purchased their flight to Edinburgh and that they could not return until they could pay back the money, an amount thought to be around €300. Another said that they had sold all of their possessions in order to afford the journey to Scotland.

Unable to find legal employment due to British labour restrictions on migrant workers coming from Romania and Bulgaria, the women in the group have been begging and selling The Big Issue across the city centre.

The men are thought to be finding temporary employment with gang-masters. One male member of the group said that he had been employed to pick fruit and that he and others had been transported to Glasgow to work. On one occasion migrants were observed getting into the back of a white Mercedes Sprint van outside the flat in the early evening. They then drove to a Leith industrial car park where they waited inside the vehicle for over an hour before another van containing men and women of Eastern European appearance arrived and both vans departed.

There have been several police raids on similar properties in the last year in efforts to clamp down on criminal gangs trafficking immigrants into Edinburgh. It has been discovered that in some cases women have been trafficked from Eastern Europe and forced into prostitution.

Edinburgh City Council were informed of The Journal’s investigation on Wednesday 28 November. Cllr Paul Edie, Housing Convener, informed The Journal that “overcrowding, particularly of this type, is unacceptable to the Council and we will not hesitate to pursue landlords who either endorse this behaviour, or indeed, allow it to happen in their property."

He continued: "We would appeal to anyone who suspects overcrowding is occurring in a property to get in touch with our enforcement services."

The Journal attempted to contact Mr Singh, but he was unavailable for comment.