Landlords Amarjit Singh and his wife Jasbinder Kaur of Munster Avenue, Hounslow, have been found guilty at Isleworth Crown Court of running an unlicensed HMO and building another unlicensed unit without planning permission in the property’s back garden.

Hillingdon Council’s planning enforcement team inspected 24 Maple Avenue (main image) after there were reports that a large outbuilding had been constructed in the garden without planning permission. Inside, they found it had a separate bedroom, kitchen, shower room and lounge and was being used as an independent residential unit.

In follow-up visits, the council also found the main property had been illegally subdivided into four self-contained flats with separate bedrooms, kitchens and living spaces.

Enforcement notices

The landlords were subsequently served with planning enforcement notices. These required the main property and outbuilding to be returned to a single dwelling, the removal of all but one kitchen, and the eradicatoin of the internal partitions and lockable doors that had been used to divide up the property into an HMO.

During an unannounced inspection, though, it became apparent that the enforcement notices had been ignored, and the property was still being rented to multiple tenants.

At Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, Singh and Kaur pleaded guilty to two offences of breaching planning control. However, when an investigation by the council’s trading standards team revealed the scale of the revenue generated by the flats, the case was referred to Isleworth Crown Court for sentencing.

There, the judge ruled that under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Singh and his wife must pay a confiscation order of £250,055.80, which is equivalent to the rent generated by the five units.

The creation of beds in sheds and illegally rented properties will not be condoned in our borough.”

They were also each fined £10,000 and required to pay prosecution costs of £4,480. The judge granted them a three-month grace period but warned that if they failed to pay up, it could lead to nearly three years in prison.

Cllr Steve Tuckwell, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning, Housing and Growth, said: “This is a significant result for our planning enforcement and trading standards teams and sends a clear message that the creation of beds in sheds and illegally rented properties will not be condoned in our borough.

“We’re determined to keep residents safe from harm and ensure everyone can live in safe, good quality homes, and we will continue to take legal action against any landlords who break the rules.”