Illegal extension and tiny rooms cost landlord over £50k

A landlord has admitted breaching planning rules at two properties in south London.

He submitted a guilty plea in response to Southwark council’s prosecution and was sentenced to pay £42,637.20 in illegal gains and a further £10,000 in fines and costs at the Inner London Crown Court.

Mawan Musa, from Camberwell, lives in the same building in which he constructed three illegal basement flats.

Musa also added what the council calls “a haphazard and sub-standard rear window extension” on the roof of another property. Neither of these developments had any planning permission.

Southwark council’s planning enforcement team led the prosecution, when the illegal and sub-standard developments were not removed. 

The court agreed that Musa had illegally gained £42,637.20 in rent, after reviewing financial investigations carried out by the council’s trading standards team.

A spokesperson for the council says: “Everyone deserves a good quality place to live. Planning rules and space standards make sure that new developments are good quality and a decent size.

“This was a shameless attempt to shoehorn three tiny flats into one basement, along with an illegal roof extension. This outcome serves as a warning that we will not tolerate planning breaches. It also supports us in cracking down on those who try to benefit from renting illegal and sub-standard properties in Southwark.”

The development is now in compliance with planning permission.

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