London borough secures £450k confiscation over ‘beds in sheds’

Ealing Council has obtained a confiscation order of nearly £450,000 against a landlord who ignored enforcement notices over ‘beds in sheds’ at one of her rental properties.

The local authority had called on Samina Nadeem, of Malborough Road in Southall, to pull down the outhouses at 201 Scotts Road, which she had purchased in 2012.

The outhouses were originally built as garages, but the defendant was letting them out to up to five tenants.

Ealing issued Mrs Nadeem with a planning enforcement notice in August 2014, ordering her to stop letting the outhouses and ultimately demolish them.

After she ignored the enforcement notice, in September 2015 the council demolished the outbuildings and brought prosecution proceedings against her.

Having originally entered a not guilty plea at her trial at Ealing Magistrates’ Court, Mrs Nadeem was found guilty in February 2017.

The case was then committed to Isleworth Crown Court for a confiscation order to be considered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. On 18 October 2018 Mrs Nadeem received a confiscation order of £447,552.22 – equivalent to the total equity she owns in her portfolio of rental properties.

This sum must be paid by 18 January 2019. If she fails to pay, Mrs Nadeem will receive an automatic four-year prison sentence. She was also fined a further £18,000.

Cllr Joanna Camadoo, Ealing Council’s lead member for community safety and inclusion, said: “We’re very pleased to get such a positive result at the end of a very long and drawn out case….Mrs Nadeem completely ignored our requests to act within the law – indeed, the only reason she stopped letting these substandard buildings was because we demolished them.”

This was the second confiscation order obtained by Ealing in the past month – another landlord was ordered to pay £42,000 for illegally letting an outbuilding at one of his properties in Southall.