A landlord with an OBE has been branded a “rogue” by a West London council for his poor management of 22 properties where tenants lived in “appalling conditions”.
Nirpaul Riat was taken to court after being issued an Emergency Prohibition Order by Hounslow Council due to poor conditions in 22 of his properties, and judges fined him £300,000 for the long list of issues.
Damp, squalid rooms with limited natural light, a lack of hot water, heating which only worked irregularly as well as leaks and a mould problem were among a catalogue of faults identified at the houses, which had been converted into flats without consent, as people were forced to live in “terrible conditions”.
Riat was handed the fine by judges at Isleworth Crown Court after “two decades of managing illegally converted houses”, which included illegally converting a property into eight flats and renting an outbuilding in Osterley. He now faces being sent to prison if he does not pay the fine.
The landlord was previously fined £20,000 in 2009 for illegally converting a property in Hanworth into flats.
Hounslow Council now wants Riat to be stripped of his OBE, which he earned for services to Charity and to the Punjabi People in 2011.
Cllr Tom Bruce, cabinet member for Regeneration and Development at Hounslow Council, said: “This landlord treated his tenants as nothing more than a commodity – exploiting residents in need of housing for his own financial gain.
“While these residents were left to languish in these appalling conditions, Nirapaul grew rich at their expense. I hope today’s verdict sends a message that we do not – under any circumstances – tolerate rogue landlords in Hounslow and will use the full force of the law to prosecute them.”
Great to see the system working against the right landlords, this could all have been easily avoided following a somnolent process to keep these properties to standard.
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I presume the tenants will be able to get their rent back as well.
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So no one can justify the manner in which this dredful landlord has behaved and operated, based on this article. He has been before a court and his punishment has been set; quite rightly. One does of course have to ask why he has been operating these illegal properties for 20 years according to the article. Hounslow Council state ” I hope today’s verdict sends a message that we do not – under any circumstances – tolerate rogue landlords in Hounslow and will use the full force of the law to prosecute them.” Fine but 20 years before they brought it to court? Then they say they want the landlord to be stripped of his OBE. They seem to be wanting to be prosecutor, judge and jury; well outside its function to investigate and proscute so the judiciary, the appropriate authority, can try the case and set the punishment. The question of whether or not his OBE should be removed should rest with those who control such honours; in my personal opinion any one found guilty of a serious criminal offence should automatically have any such honours removed for life but this is NOT for any council to demand. Who do the council think they are? OK a different take on this case. I stress I do not support criminal landlords but wish people could get away from emotive terms and quotations and blowing their own trumpet particularly if it has taken them 20 years to find it!
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I took it as “this is what we want to see happen” not “you have to do it because we said so!”. I fully agree that he should have it removed, and it could be that is what the Councillor was meaning but the phrasing didn’t work.
And yes, 20 years is far too long for this to be allowed to go on, I understand that they would need to collect evidence and build a case, which could take a year or so to get it done and before a judge but this does seem quite slow… Unless the complaints from 20 years ago were not reported then? I suppose we will never know, but this does not bode well for trying to get a possession warrant under S8 if it has taken 20 years to get something this serious before a judge…
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20 years to resolve this matter?! Just how incompetent is this council?
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