Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Rogue Ladder Landlord Benefits to Tune of £312,000
Haringey Council press release:
A rogue landlord who made hundreds of thousands of pounds from two family homes that had been illegally converted into self-contained flats has been fined and ordered to repay the profit following action by Haringey Council.
Tasking Izzet of Southgate owned two properties in Hewitt Road and Burgoyne Road (N4) that had been illegally split into four and five self-contained flats, but planning enforcement notices ordering that the properties be converted back to single dwellings were ignored.
Haringey Council first prosecuted Mr Izzet in 2010 when he failed to comply with an enforcement notice. A further prosecution in 2011 resulted in a second conviction.
Despite this, subsequent planning inspection visits found no changes to the properties and Mr Izzet was prosecuted and convicted for a third time in January 2013.
Mr Izzet attempted to appeal his conviction at Wood Green Crown Court in March, arguing he had done all he could to comply with the enforcement notices, but the judge dismissed his version of events as “wholly lacking in specific detail.”
Following this conviction, Haringey Council asked for the case to be referred for a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to strip Mr Izzet of the financial gain from his unlawful flat conversions.
At a final confiscation hearing at Wood Green Crown Court last month, Mr Izzet was found to have benefited £312,315 and was ordered to repay this within six months or face up to three years in prison. In addition, he was fined £6,000 for each offence and ordered to pay court costs of £6,900.
Haringey Council will take a share of the confiscation order, which will be ploughed back into further enforcement activities of the council.
Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Enforcement, Cllr Joseph Ejiofor, said: “Mr Izzet was given plenty of opportunity abide by the rules, but ignored repeated enforcement notices while continuing to profit from illegally converted properties. I hope this prosecution sends out a firm message to all landlords in the borough that they are responsible for ensuring the properties they own adhere to the correct planning rules and regulations.”
One of the properties has now been re-converted into a single house in line with the enforcement notice.
Checks will be made to ensure that the other property is also no longer in breach of the enforcement notice.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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At last some good news - We love it when the bad guys get humiliated, Thanks !
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Permalink Reply by Lucy Jaffe on
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Thanks to Ian Sygrave, among others, who have campaigned for increased regulation of HMOs in Harringay Ward and to the Council for taking action.
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Permalink Reply by Anette on
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This is brilliant, and sends a really strong signal to other dodgy landlords. More like this asap!
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here's one that didn;t work:
a 2 bedroom house illegally converted into six bedsits, the landlord chucks a box of cornflakes in and call it B&B and then has Haringey/Barnet and Enfield send vulnerable tennents and monies go directly to him:
Thank you for your enquiry.
You enquired on behalf of residents regarding 1A Warberry Road as they are concerned that “ the property is an illegally converted HMO that Haringey council have actually surveyed and found to be in breach of planning rules yet continue to house vulnerable people in a space deemed unfit for human habitation”.
I have spoken with Myles Joyce, Team leader Planning Enforcement & Appeals and he has informed me that “enforcement investigations were closed in 2009 as evidence was provided which was sufficient to prove on balance of probabilities, that the use was immune from enforcement action. The Council were satisfied that the property’s use as 6 s/c flats was established and therefore no enforcement action could be taken”.
An officer from the Housing Improvement Team (private Sector), Ms Cara Guthrie, has been allocated the case to investigate the standards within the property. Should Ms Guthrie find that standards are not in line with legislative or council local standards she will take the necessary enforcement action.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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I wonder how much of this 'B&B' scam still goes on. Instead of letting a place as a flat, it's designated as a B&B, and a bag of tescos unfinest is delivered every day. They can then charge LBH B&B fees which are higher than rent.
For example - my flat was bought from a commercial landlord (don't ask about the missing lease paperwork etc that results from property being bought+sold over + over at auction for decades). After I moved in, I continued to get a bag of 'food' left on my doorstep every day. It contained a disgusting white loaf, a slab of margarine, a litre of milk, and packet of own-brand cereal. Alternating days, eggs, tea and sugar. Total cost, £2 max. This was 'breakfast' for a family of four. Really, none of it was edible except the milk, I left it out on the wall and it would be picked up by desperate anons. Out of curiosity I watched the delivery happen, and saw the white van dropping off about five similar bags along the road.
I stopped it coming and kept meaning to follow up the story but then got engrossed in dealing with the repairs to the flat. I had heard that this was a way of charging per head for each tenant, and that the total income was higher than renting as a self-contained flat. Maybe someone in Housing or thereabouts can tell us if this is still happening? It is of course a fraud.
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6 bedsits: £65 per day: 365 days per year from a two bedroom house.... in what Haringey acknowledge as an illegally converted property yet they continue to house vulnerable people in there..... and pay the landlord directly.... did i miss something here?
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