Crown Court imposes huge £300K fine on pillar of the community rogue landlord prosecuted by Hounslow council

Close Up Detail Of The Scales Of Justice 2021 08 27 16 37 29 Utc

The landlord, who was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to charity, had been previously fined £20,000 in 2009 for illegally converting a house into 3 flats.

In the 2009 prosecution the landlord had also rented out a static caravan, located at the site of the illegally converted house, as a separate home. Hounslow council's then lead Member for the Environment was quoted as saying the landlord "was given every opportunity to comply with the law but by refusing, he left us with no choice but to take him to court .... Planning laws apply to everyone and this case shows that we won't tolerate people ignoring them."

The July 2023 prosecution found that the landlord had been managing "22 properties where tenants lived in appalling conditions" and "managing illegally converted houses, which saw vulnerable residents live in terrible living conditions." His offences included illegally converting a house into 8 flats and renting out an "outbuilding" as a home.

The conditions experienced by his tenants included damp, 'squalored' rooms with little natural light, lack of hot water and heating that worked only on an irregular basis.

Cllr. Tom Bruce, Hounslow council's Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Development, said "This landlord treated his tenants as nothing more than a commodity .... While these residents were left to languish in these appalling conditions, [the landlord] grew rich on their expense."

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