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.
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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.
