Big fines for two Hounslow landlords

Hounslow Council is clamping down on rogue landlords, issuing fines of £25,000 and £40,000 in just last week alone.

In the first case a 'beds in sheds' landlord was fined £25,000 for ignoring orders to stop illegally letting out a garage and outbuilding in Heston.

Masood Ashraf ignored council orders to stop letting out a garage and outbuilding for eight years. He admitted breaching an enforcement notice issued by Hounslow Council back in 2006.

Ashraf was sentenced on 11 July at Kingston Crown Court where he was fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs plus a £2,000 victim surcharge.

The council estimated Ashrad had pocketed at least £85,200 from illegally letting the buildings between April 2006 and March 2014.

In a separate case Din Dyal Verma was ordered to pay nearly £40,000 for letting out overcrowded, rat-infested properties in Hounslow.

Sixteen people were found crammed into a house and outbuildings at 33 Station Road, Hounslow. They included a family with a six-month-old baby living in a garden shed.

Verma was convicted of 14 housing offences at Feltham Magistrates Court on 26 June after being prosecuted by Hounslow Council. He was sentenced on 8 July and fined £24,500 and ordered to pay £14,732 in costs and charges.