24th
Apr 2015
A Wokingham landlord refused to knock down his block of flats that were rented out, he ended up with a demolition order and an order to repay £35,000 plus of "unlawful" rent.
He received a fine of £35,353.06 under the Proceeds of Crime Act at a Reading Crown Court hearing, the figure was calculated from the rents he had received from his tenants.
He was also slapped with fines of £4,000 and £10,000 for costs after the court was told that he had previously refused to comply with a demolition enforcement notice, whilst happily carrying on with receiving his rents.
In 2007 the landlord received permission to build the block of flats from the council, however when the flats were finished it was discovered by the property planners,that the landlord’s flats were bigger than originally passed.
Wokingham Borough Council’s Director of Environment, Heather Thwaites,was disappointed by the sorry mess, because if the flats had been constructed under the original plans they would have continued to give members of the community decent homes.
Thwaites said: “What is sad is that if he had followed the rules, and built what was authorised and approved, it would have provided much needed homes for local people.”
Only 37% of the £35,000 order for repayment was given to Wokingham Borough Council because of inflation calculations
The landlord earlier this year sent the bulldozers in and knocked down the block of flats.
PIMS Comment
At a time of chronic housing shortage there seems little logic in demolishing perfectly good dwellings [we trust they were compliant with building regs] -
Common sense needs to prevail somewhere. If there was an attempted / intended deceit then compulsory purchase order at lower cost or/and significant fine - but knocking down valuable assets because you're a naughty boy is nonsense.
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