One North London landlord is probably ruing the day he ever decided to carry out some illegal conversions on his properties in order to capitalise on the current demand for bedsits and flats: in a bid to make some money, he converted four large properties bought at knock down prices into illegal bedsits and shared accommodation. Sadly for him, as a result of his cut-price entrepreneurial efforts, he has just been fined a massive £328,515, and if he fails to pay the fine within six months, he faces being sent to prison for three and a half years.
A judge sitting at Harrow Crown Court awarded the huge fine following a successful prosecution by Brent Council, who decided to take legal action after the landlord repeatedly ignored local planning laws. The fine includes a considerable amount of money (around £300,000 will be collected under the Proceeds of Crime Act) paid out by tenants living in the squalid accommodation; the rest is made up of legal costs and further fines levied for failing to apply for planning consent. The landlord was also convicted of various fire safety breaches and fraud charges.
The record fine imposed on this landlord is of course a sharp reminder to every other landlord hoping to make some easy money in the booming rental market: it might seem like a fantastic idea to convert a large property into bedsits on the cheap, but if you fail to follow the rules, sooner or later you will have to pay the consequences, which in this instance proved to be an extremely costly lesson!
