Fraudulent London landlord jailed for forgery

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A rogue landlord jailed for forging documents to prevent enforcement action being taken over his three illegally converted HMOs has been ordered to pay £55,000.

Siddarth
Mahajan of Milton Crescent, Ilford was convicted under the Proceeds of Crime
Act at Snaresbrook Crown Court during a confiscation hearing where Barking and
Dagenham Council recovered £30,000. The judge also ordered him to pay £25,000
in costs.

Mahajan was
sentenced in February 2019 for converting a three-bedroom family
home in Sherwood Gardens, Barking, into an HMO without planning permission. He’d
bought the property in 2015 but falsely claimed it had been in use as an HMO for more
than 10 years and was therefore immune from enforcement action. He produced a
number of documents to support this claim including several tenancy agreements,
a letter from an estate agent and a sworn affidavit which appeared to show that
it had been an HMO since 2008.   

The Special Investigations Team examined other
properties owned by Mahajan in St Erkenwald Road and Ripple Road, Barking. He
had also converted these family homes into HMOs without securing planning
permission, and provided similar forged documents. Mahajan was found guilty of
two counts of perverting the course of justice and three counts of using copies
of forged documents, and sentenced to eight months for each offence, to run
concurrently.

Councillor
Margaret Mullane, cabinet member for enforcement and community safety, says: “I
hope this serves as a stark warning to disreputable landlords that we will
continue to come after them for their money even if they have been previously
prosecuted.  

“The council will not stand by and let our residents
live in cramped properties that are harmful to their wellbeing.”

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