Brent Council has secured confiscation orders totalling £322,282 against a husband and wife landlord team who converted two terrace houses into 18 flats without planning permission under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

The confiscation orders were made at Harrow Crown Court against Mohammad Ishaq and Shamim Akhtar both of Clifford Way, Neasden.

The pair had previously pleaded guilty to the planning offences at Willesden Magistrates Court in May 2018

On top of a confiscation order of £161,141 each, the defendants were also each fined £10,000 for their failure to comply with planning enforcement notices on properties they own in Willesden and Harlesden. They were ordered to pay the council’s costs.

Ishaq and Akhtar had previously lost appeals against Brent’s enforcement notices, which ordered them to undo the works. Despite written warnings, they ignored the problem and failed to comply with the notices for several years. It is understood that works have now mostly been completed to revert the properties to their lawful use as single houses.