Half-£million fine for rogue landlord in Westminster

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Rogue landlord
fine:

A Maida Vale,
landlord who divided a three-bedroom home into eight flats, without
going through the planning application process, has been fined
£90,000 and ordered to pay a confiscation order totalling £400,000.

Mr Farook Owadally,
whose property at 6 Marylands Road was the subject of the order,
received the heavy fine plus another £40,000 in costs after he had
ignored several warnings from Westminster City Council’s planning
team, over a period of years.

Westminster Council
said it is the biggest ever penalty for a planning offence in the
central London borough. It’s “A straightforward case of the law
catching up with an unscrupulous person�, said a spokesperson.

Owadally had
illegally converted the basement, ground, first, second and third
floors of his Maida Vale property into eight tiny flats, collecting
huge illegal profits over a number of years. He had been charging
over £1,000 per month in rent for each of the tiny ‘flats’
which, in most cases, were simply a small room, said the Council.

The safety of those
living in the illegal flats was compromised and the main reason
behind the council’s prosecution – several of the rooms did not
meet the minimum size requirement of 37sqm for new one-bedroom flats.
One was just 18 sqm.

Cllr Richard Beddoe,
Westminster City Council Cabinet Member for Place Shaping and
Planning said:

“Unfortunately
this is a straightforward case of the law catching up with an
unscrupulous person.

“Our planning
teams aren’t just ticking boxes and filling in forms for fun – we
have planning rules for a reason, to make sure housing is fit for
purpose and safe.

“We’ve made it
our top priority to create more affordable homes for hardworking
people and we’re on track to build a at least 1,850 of them by
2023.�

Enforcement notices
had been issued dating back to January 2012, requesting that Owadally
remove the flats, demolish the third-floor extension, and return the
property to its former condition as a shop with maisonette above.

Southwark Crown
Court was told how Owadally had made no attempt to engage with
planning officers and had ignored the notices to stop using the
flats. He had continued to profit over an extended period of time.

Following the court
ruling, Owadilly has been given three months to pay the confiscation
order, and six months to pay costs and fines to the courts.

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