A landlord will be jailed for 15 months if she is unable to pay more than £50,000 in fines over the next three months and she also owes other outstanding fines of around £30,000.

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In 2015 Barking and Dagenham council’s Planning and Enforcement Offices found out that a five bedroomed house had been converted into two separate flats without the owner applying for the required planning permission.

The owner Titilola Oyejole was immediately slapped with an Enforcement Order stopping her from letting out the two flats and restoring the property to a single dwelling. She appealed against the Order which was flatly refused by the Planning Inspectorate and the owner was ordered to carry out the necessary work to return the property to its original state by April 2016.

However council officers found in November 2016 that the owner had ignored the enforcement notice as the property remained as two separate flats with tenants living in one of the units and Oyejole living in the other.

Consequently she was summoned to appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court in July 2018  and was ordered to pay a fine of £200, a victim surcharge of £30 and costs of costs £4,203 to Barking and Dagenham council.

Oyejola was also issued with a Confiscation Order under the Proceeds of Crime Act  for £19,784 and together with the other fines came to a total of £24,217.

Following on from the court appearance the necessary work was carried out in the property returning to its original five-bed single dwelling.

In May 2018 Oyejola applied to the council for a property licence to rent the property out but after a visit by its team who found it had once again been subdivided into two separate flat with tenants living in one and the owner occupying the other. The council’s officers found that the renter’s flat was in a disgusting state with rodent infestation and water ingress resulting in the owner being issued with Improvement Notices.

Following the council’s actions in September 2023, Oyejola appeared at Barkingside Magistrates Court entering a plea of not guilty to the three offences - Failing to comply with the requirements of the Planning Enforcement – The Failure to comply with any of the two notices for the rodent infestation and for the state of the property.

Unsurprisingly, the Magistrates convicted her on all three counts.

Earlier, this month, Oyejola appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court where she was fined £7,500 for the planning offence, costs of £4,920 to Barking and Dagenham council as well as £500 for each Improvement Notice.

She was also ordered to pay a Proceeds of Crime Act Confiscation Order of £51, 983.24p which must be paid within three months and failure to do so will mean she will receive a jail sentence of 15 months.

The owner will now have to pay out a total of £78,620.