Northolt Landlord Fined for Illegal Conversion
House on Dorchester Road had been split into tiny flats
Order to pay over a quarter of a million for planning breaches on Dorchester Road. Picture: Google Streetview.
November 10, 2024
A 50-year-old man has been ordered to pay more than a quarter or a million pounds after it was found he had broken planning rules.
Krzysztof Pogwizd, of Rasehill Close, Rickmansworth had converted a semi-detached house he owned on Dorchester Road in Northolt into five very small self-contained flats without the necessary permissions,
On 30 October at Isleworth Crown Court, he was ordered to pay a confiscation order and fine, totalling £280,000, for consistently ignoring warnings by Ealing Council to return the home to its former condition.
In early 2020, the council issued an enforcement notice, ordering him to stop letting the property as 5 self-contained flats. Mr Pogwizd was also asked to remove the kitchens, bathrooms, and drainage connections from 4 of the flats, in addition to all internal doors, partitions, and locks. He didn’t appeal the notice, so he was expected to comply with it.
In July 2022, Mr Pogwizd then submitted a planning application to convert the property into 4 self-contained flats, with cycle storage and car parking spaces. This application was refused in August that year and a few months later planning enforcement and police officers inspected the property after gaining a warrant. The officers found that the property was still occupied by multiple tenants and was, therefore, in violation of the original enforcement notice.
On 5 September 2023, Mr Pogwizd was summoned to Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, where he pleaded guilty for breaching the requirements of the enforcement notice. The matter was referred to Isleworth Crown Court and he was ordered to pay a confiscation order of £259,920.51, a £12,000 fine, a victim surcharge of £2,000, and costs of £8,994.56 – a total of £282,915.07.
The size of the financial penalty reflects the scale of profit that Mr Pogwizd had made from letting the micro-flats after being told to stop doing so. In March 2023, Mr Pogwizd obtained planning permission for the legal conversion of the property into 3 self-contained flats.
Councillor Shital Manro, the council’s cabinet member for good growth and new housing, said, “As the demand for housing continues to grow in the borough, it’s more important than ever that we support landlords to provide safe, high-quality homes for their tenants. The overwhelming majority of landlords are law-abiding and play a vital part in the local housing market, but a tiny minority continue to put their tenants at risk by forcing them to live in cramped, sub-standard living conditions.
“Anyone looking to make substantial changes to their homes must seek planning approval before doing so. We will continue to take the strongest possible action to ensure that the borough’s private tenants are protected, and can live in safe, well-maintained homes.”
If you are concerned that a property in your area has breached planning regulations, report it by emailing planningenforcement@ealing.gov.uk.
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. |
