Rogue landlords in Dagenham fined almost £80,000

A pair of landlords in Dagenham have been slapped with a hefty fine for renting out two illegally converted flats over eight years.

Multan Singh, 56, and Jagir Kaur, 51, were caught after Barking and Dagenham Council housing enforcement officers visited the four-bedroom flat in Rowallen Parade, Dagenham, to discover that it had been converted into two, two-bedroom flats in 2009.

The pair had their retrospective planning application rejected by Barking and Dagenham Council in 2012, but chose to ignore an enforcement notice instructing telling them to stop using the property as two separate flats, and to remove all relevant fittings and alterations from the conversion.

Each landlord was issued with confiscation orders totalling £37,500 at Snaresbrook Crown Court, plus a £1,650 fine and £165 statutory surcharge, following the discovery that the property was still being rented to two families as two self-contained units during inspections in October 2016 and again at the start of this year.

Despite various letters from the local authority, the property investors opted not to act, and according to the council did not co-operate with the investigation until they were charged. 

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