Massive Fine for Waldegrave Road Planning Breaches
Rogue landlord sent ringer to hearings to delay judgement
An outbuilding in the garden of the Waldegrave Road property. Picture: Ealing Council
February 29, 2024
A rogue landlord has been given a massive find after refusing to remove buildings at a property in Ealing.
Ali Bahbahani had converted a house on Waldegrave Road into flats and built an extension without obtaining planning permission. He defied orders to cease the use and demolish the unauthorised extensions while collecting money from tenants.
Over the last decade the council has issued multiple court applications to have the property restored to its original condition. The case was heard before a number of courts before being concluded at Isleworth Crown Court in January. It was revealed during court proceedings that someone impersonating Bahbahani had attended the initial hearings, adding to the delay.
Bahbahani, who now lives overseas, failed to appear for his conviction at Isleworth Crown Court on 25 January after which he was hit with a £1.44million penalty under the Proceeds of Crime Act. As part of the confiscation order, the council will be recovering more than £16,000 in unpaid council tax and business rate bills.
The council is working with the management receiver, appointed by the court, to recover all its costs.
The property in Waldegrave Road has now been bought by a new owner and the council is working with them to finally resolve the illegal building works that were carried out on the property.
The council’s head of legal services, Justin Morley, said, “This is quite a remarkable case, given the size of the confiscation order. It reflects not only the time and hard work that officers invested in this case, but also the commitment to go through the proper legal channels.”
Councillor Shital Manro, cabinet member for good growth and new housing, said, “This was a flagrant abuse of the planning system. You must make sure you have planning permission for major changes of any sort to your property. Failure to do so will result in court action and, as we have seen, can be very costly.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
