Developer fined £485k for turning three flats into seven apartments

A developer has been ordered to pay nearly £485,000 after illegally turning three flats into seven 'inadequately sized' properties.

Director Sheikh Behaeddin Adil and HAAB Development Limited constructed the flats in the Queen's Park Estate Conservation Area without consent, Westminster City Council said.

Officers first visited the Harrow Road property in May 2015 after a complaint about a first-floor extension.

It was then found that the property had been converted from a shop with three residential flats to a shop with seven 'inadequately sized' studio or one-bed flats.

This involved rear extensions to the ground floor and first floor as well as many internal rearrangements.

An enforcement notice was issued the following year, requiring the removal of unauthorised works and internal rearrangements to convert the property back to how it was.

But this was not complied with, the council said, and in January 2020 it was decided it was in the public interest to prosecute the freehold company and its director.

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The enforcement notice was finally complied with in February 2023, with the company and director contesting the prosecution claiming that they were not aware of the central London authority's concerns about the breach of planning control.

This was despite employing a planning agent to respond to the council's concerns as early as October 2015, the council said.

Both Adil and the company pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a planning enforcement notice and were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court last month.

Both were required to pay fines of £9,750 each and contributions towards the council prosecution costs in the sum of £50,000 (£25,000 each) within three months.

Both were also ordered to pay a combined £415,101.13 for particular criminal conduct under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The property lies in the Queen's Park Conservation Area - a place of 'special architectural or historical interest' which includes 1,500 residential and 53 Grade II listed properties.

Cllr Geoff Barraclough, the Westminster City Council Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development, said the substantial fines would serve as a warning to other 'unscrupulous property developers'.

'Planning Enforcement is there to protect and prevent harm to our historic built environment such as the much loved Queens Park Conservation Area,' he said.

'We are clear that enforcement notices will be served and must be complied with if a building owner goes ahead with development without getting planning permission first.

'I welcome this verdict, and the proceeds of crime order, as a warning to others and a reminder that Westminster Council is committed to protecting our City from unscrupulous property developers.'