Hillingdon’s clampdown down on illegal back garden homes and rogue landlords has scored a court victory. Jam al Uddin of 36 Gloucester Road, London, has been ordered to pay £15,377 for using an outbuilding as accommodation following a Hillingdon Council investigation.
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Uddin was fined £5,400 for breaching a house of multiple occupation licence (HMO), £6,600 for failing to comply with a planning enforcement notice ordering him to stop using the outbuilding as accommodation and ordered to pay council costs of £3,377.
Uddin was told by the council that he must stop renting the shed in the garden of Turnpike Lane, Uxbridge, after the local authority received a tip-off by a resident who was also a local council Street Champion.
After failing to comply with an enforcement notice, which was upheld on appeal by the planning inspectorate in August 2011, Uddin was found guilty at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on 3 July.
Cabinet Member for Planning, Transportation and Recycling, Keith Burrows, said: “Renting sheds or outbuildings not only fall foul of planning regulations but also the accommodation is often cramped and unsuitable for someone to live in. Anyone caught flouting these planning laws should be aware that the council will take action and they face ending up in court and being hit with a hefty fine, as given in this case.”
A further prosecution on the same day also saw a man facing a four-figure bill for illegally re-developing a house at 9 Princes Park Parade, Hayes, into seven self-contained flats as well as renting out a ‘bed in a shed’.
Rupa Sodha, was fined £3,500 and council costs of £2,079. The planning law flouter had been renting each flat for £180 per week.
Residents who suspect someone of breaching planning or housing regulations can report it to the council on 01895 250230.
Further Information.
Hillingdon Council is launching a clampdown down on illegal back garden homes and rogue landlords.
The unauthorised conversion of outbuildings into separate units of residential accommodation, known as ‘beds in sheds’ often provide very cramped and poor living conditions and show a total disregard to planning law. They can also be dangerous to live in. They tend to be built in the back gardens of residential properties, and rented to tenants.
In some parts of the borough ‘beds in sheds’ are becoming an issue, which has adverse environmental impacts on local communities, such as increased noise and disturbance; poor visual impacts; increased traffic; and increased pressures on local facilities such as health, schools etc.
Hillingdon Council has put together a dedicated team of officers, including officers in planning enforcement, private sector housing and legal services to develop a clear strategy to tackle the beds in sheds issue now, in order to ensure it does not develop into a larger problem in the future. They are tasked with co-ordinating robust, fast track enforcement processes, which pursue individual cases from investigation all the way through to prosecution, and to publicise such actions to prevent new cases arising.
As a result of this work, individuals may find that they stand to lose housing benefits if it is found that they are not eligible, and others may find that they owe council tax. The Council will also work with partner agencies including Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the
UK Border and Immigration Authority to tackle the problem of tax avoidance and illegal immigrants.
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