Landlord 'made tenants pretend to be Mormons'

A landlord told his tenants to pretend to be Mormons and even placed religious literature in their house in order to avoid paying an extra fee to the council. David Thomson asked tenants to sign a lease stating they belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it was disclosed yesterday.

He would even stop by his Aberdeen flat to "plant" religious literature in case council officials turned up to investigate. Mr Thomson dreamed up the ruse to avoid paying hundreds of pounds for a "house in multiple occupation" (HMO) licence, because some religious groups are exempt.

At an Aberdeen City Council license committee meeting on Wednesday, Mr Thomson was asked if he had been aware his tenants were not Mormon. He replied: "Oh yes, there was no question of them being Mormons. I am not a Mormon.



"I don't think what I am doing is in anyway improper. It is within the parameters." He added that he had a "deep respect" for the religious group.

Mr Thomson, who lives in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, appeared before the committee because he had recently applied for an HMO license for the flat in the Garthdee area of the city. But councillors unanimously refused the application after a signed letter from one of his current tenants was read out before the panel

It stated that they had been "manipulated into falsely signing a lease as a Mormon religious order after initially promising that the flat had a full HMO licence". Councillor Marie Boulton told Mr Thomson: "I'm speechless that we are even considering whether you are a fit and proper person when you were prepared for people to sign a lease that was deceitful."