Brent father and son guilty of illegal flat conversion

Thursday, March 5th, 2015 -

Two men from Brent have been found guilty of illegally converting a property into 5 flats.

Mr Khetani and his father Mr Patel from Mortimer Road, NW10 were convicted at Willesden Magistrates Court on 3 March 2015 after carrying out works to a property they own in Neasden without planning permission.

The property in Prout Grove, Neasden is a buy-to-let property. They constructed a single-story rear extension, a rear dormer window, an outbuilding in the rear garden and converted the property into 5 flats, all without planning permission from Brent Council. They then failed to comply with an enforcement notice issued by the council.

They were fined £6000 each and ordered to pay £613 each towards the council’s costs.

Councillor Margaret McLennan, Lead Member for Regeneration and Housing at Brent Council said:

“Mr Khetani and Mr Patel were not granted planning permission from the council, so decided to carry out construction work regardless. They failed to comply despite numerous warnings. As a result, they have built something that hasn’t met planning standards and is sub-standard.

“The court has recognised this and given them a heavy fine to reflect the offence.

“It is not right that tenants live in sub-standard accommodation due to the actions of rogue landlords like Mr Khetani and Mr Patel. It is not right for neighbours to have to tolerate this behaviour either. That is why Brent Council takes a robust approach to enforcing planning control”.

According to the council, the owners must now comply with the enforcement notice or they could face further action.