Landlord hit with £100k fine for building illegal flats

A landlord has been ordered to pay more than £100,000 for developing illegal flats at her property after being prosecuted by Havering council.

Jaghtar Khaira of Elm Park in east London was ordered to pay £88,500 at Snaresbrook Crown Court under the Proceeds of Crime Act. She was also fined £2,500 for a second offence of failing to comply with an earlier Enforcement Notice and a further £10,300 for prosecution costs.

Khaira was granted planning consent to build two flats at her property, but she decided to develop four units with a view to letting them out which resulted in a Planning Enforcement Notice in 2011. Consequently, she was prosecuted and fined at Romford Magistrates Court in 2013 but continued to illegally rent out the two extra flats.

Following the second criminal prosecution, which has now resulted in a total fine of £101,300, Patrick Keyes, head of regulatory services at Havering Council, said: “Throughout this investigation we have advised Mrs Khaira how she should comply but she continued to breach the Enforcement Notices and prosecution became the Councils only option.”

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