Brent Council secures £322k confiscation orders against husband and wife landlords

Brent Council has secured confiscation orders totalling £322,282 against a husband and wife landlord team who converted two terrace houses into 18 flats without planning permission.

The orders comes a month after the local authority obtained, together with Harrow Council, a £1.4m confiscation order against a different landlord.

The latest confiscation orders were made at Harrow Crown Court on 12 December against Mohammad Ishaq, 68, and Shamim Akhtar, 66, both of Clifford Way, Neasden.

The pair had previously pleaded guilty to the planning offences at Willesden Magistrates Court in May.

On top of a confiscation order of £161,141 each, the defendants were also each fined £10,000 for their failure to comply with planning enforcement notices on properties they own in Willesden and Harlesden. They were ordered to pay the council's costs.

Ishaq and Akhtar had lost appeals against Brent's enforcement notices, which ordered them to undo the works. Despite written warnings, they ignored the problem and failed to comply with the notices for several years, the council said.

Cllr Tom Miller, Brent Council's Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said: "These individuals showed a blatant disregard for planning rules by renting out shoddy accommodation and have now paid the price. Once again, Brent has shown that ignoring enforcement notices simply doesn't pay."

Works have now mostly been completed to revert the properties to their lawful use as single houses, the council said.