From Brent Council
A criminal businessman has been slapped with Brent’s first ever rogue landlord banning order.
So-called property dealer, Jaydipkumar Rameshchandra Valand, who lives with his family in Swinderby Road, Wembley Central, has been banned from letting out houses in England and engaging in any sort of property management work in the country for the next five years.
A judge issued the ban after the council proved that Valand, aged 48, had been responsible for multiple housing-related offences in Brent.
Valand was one of four slum landlords found guilty of raking in £360,000 by packing up to 40 tenants into a four-bed semi-detached home in Napier Road, Wembley, back in 2018. Enforcement officers discovered one of the Napier Road tenants living in a lean-to shack made out of pallets and tarpaulin with no lighting or heating.
Although he was slammed with a £5,000 confiscation order, Valand went on to exploit more vulnerable tenants. In January 2022, he was found guilty of breaching housing regulations at a licensed HMO property in Wembley Hill Road. Enforcement officers discovered fire safety violations, accumulating waste, disrepairs and unhygienic conditions under Valand’s management while he pocketed £1,400 a month from tenants living in unsafe conditions without tenancy agreements. He was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £3,347 in costs by Willesden Magistrates Court.
Valand also declared that he didn’t own a business in the UK, but Brent officers were able to demonstrate in court last year that this was a lie. He was ordered to pay in fines and costs £6,190 for this lie.
Councillor Muhammed Butt, the Leader of Brent Council, said:
This is the first ban we have issued since Brent was given the powers in April 2018 to ban serial rogue landlords under the Housing and Planning Act 2016. If Jaydipkumar Valand breaches his five-year ban, he will face a prison sentence.
Brent Council takes a zero-tolerance policy against rogue landlords such as this, and we will use everything in our powers to hold them to account to safeguard our vulnerable residents.
The new selective licensing scheme that we introduced on 1 August is part of our commitment to protecting renters’ rights and securing a decent standard of living for all residents. Landlords who rent out properties in Dollis Hill, Harlesden & Kensal Green and Willesden Green are now legally required to have a property licence.
7 comments:
So he got away with it. Made a lot of money. Fined approx. 10% of what he made. Crime does pay.
Even with the large fines he still made a fortune.
Wonder how much of his rental earnings were declared for tax purposes?
Silly to suggest it was landlord licensing that prevented this
Landlord Licensing and its enforcement in Brent is very poor (abysmal) and allows this type of awful housing conditions to be propagated by these slum landlords for years on end. Brent's position as one of London's three poorest Boroughs is now well entrenched due to the strategy of Towerblock Tatler and Butt, but also supported by several rather simpleton councillors. This regeneration strategy, though more likely a stumble - how can Towerblock Tatler end the country's housing crisis while she is one of those causing it through her gentrification of Brent and the destruction of local businesses?
Towerblock Tatler and Cllr Butt are continuing to make Brent unaffordable to its own residents, more so by the destruction of business premises, isn't Tatler's portfolio include employment? The residential boxes that are being built are predominantly near tube stations and are obviously for a few city workers who go home at the weekends, holiday makers (just look at the AirBNB numbers in Brent) and tens of thousands of students. As a slight aside, are you aware that many Brent officers live miles away in places like Cambridgeshire and drive in when they need to or share some of these thousands of rentals in Wembley Park?
So, our Brent residents lose their jobs or have to take much lower pay and therefore become homeless because they can't pay their rent, alternately they have to take cheaper properties, and so opening the door to yet more dodgy landlords. Don't forget that a large proportion of our councillors are landlords too.
We had selective licensing in Wembley, and whilst our Landlord was licenced he carried out repairs promptly as we threatened him with Council action if he didn't. Now he has not renewed these and does what he likes, no repairs have been carried out whatsoever as he no longer needs to licence????
We thought the whole idea of Licencing and Landlords paying for it, was to protect us Tenants and Them from rogue practices.
If Brent issues HMOs say for 5 people and in effect there are 10 living in the property, do they check? How often? and does this result in prosecution?
IF not why not?
Silly me, it must be like the Planning Dept. Planning breach established but 4 years later nothing has been done, due to lack of enforcement, not enough officers, due to lack of money! Who do they think they are kidding?
Tower Block Tatler used to be a secondary school History teacher and Butt used to work for British Telecom - what experience do either of them have in managing Brent???
Anon 17 August 2023 at 16:32
Obviously none, nor the apptitude. POOR B~ent
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