The ACT government raided five properties owned by Mr Fan or his then wife in July 2010 and shut the homes down after declaring them unfit for human habitation. The houses were dirty, infested with vermin and had been modified to add extra bedrooms to squeeze in more residents.

More than 100 people had to be given emergency shelter after being forced to leave houses in Downer, Melba, Scullin, Macquarie and Ngunnawal.

Mr Fan pleaded guilty to carrying out a public health risk activity, specifically a boarding house, without a licence and allowing insanitary conditions.

One of his former tenants, Franklin Hardi Bangura, took Mr Fan to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal and was awarded a refund of the rent he paid totalling $9010 as well as $825 he paid for electricity.

Mr Bangura rented a room in Mr Fan's Melba house from January 5, 2009, to mid-April for $190 a fortnight. He was then a tenant in Mr Fan's Macquarie house from mid-April 2009 to July 14, 2010 and paid $240 a fortnight in rent.

He told the tribunal the four-bedroom Melba house had been converted into one with nine bedrooms housing up to 14 residents, including children, at the same time. But evidence from the ACT government pointed to as many as 16 bedrooms housing up to 25 people at a time.

The Macquarie house had been converted into one with six bedrooms that, with a caravan, housed up to 16 people, including children, at the same time. But evidence from the ACT government pointed to 19 residents at the same time, including children, who shared one toilet.

In handing down his decision, Allan Anforth said Mr Bangura was entitled to compensation for ''the inconvenience and distress suffered during the entirety of the two tenancy agreements and the inconvenience arising out of the termination''.