Landlord landed with £200,000 bill for ignoring planning rules

A North London landlord has been ordered to pay more than £200,000 by Harrow Crown Court for illegally converting two Brent properties into flats without planning permission and ignoring enforcement notices sent to him by Brent Council.

Vijay Kara from Hendon rented out properties on Strode Road, Willesden, and in an industrial estate off the North Circular Road that was of poor quality and not up to council standards.
 
Criminal proceedings were issued for Kara's failure to comply with the notices which required him to restore the properties to their original condition.

Kara pleaded guilty and on 29 October 2015 was served a confiscation order of £187,600 for both properties, fined £10,000 and also ordered to pay costs of £10,000 by Harrow Crown Court.

A confiscation order is designed to take the profit out of crime by making the convicted defendant pay a sum of money, which represents the benefits of the crime, to the Crown.
 
Councillor Margaret McLennan, lead member for housing and development at Brent Council said: "It's staggering that Mr Kara thought that he could get away with letting out illegal sub-standard accommodation, despite a conviction for the same offence in 2009.
 
"Thanks to our hard working enforcement team, he has been caught out again and landed with a hefty bill.

 "It is so important for planning rules to be upheld, not just to protect what our streets look like, but to protect tenants from poor standard accommodation."

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