Landlord told to hand back rent under Proceeds of Crime Act

Two landlords who illegally converted their properties have been hit with huge penalties.

One, Andrew Pakkos, will have to repay some of his rental profits under the Proceeds of Crime Act or face two years in jail.

Pakkos, together with his company Cybergate Development, converted one house into five self-contained flats and another into eight. Neither had planning permission.

Pakkos appeared before Haringey Magistrates Court in December 2010 when he pleaded guilty to breaching an enforcement notice on the first first property and was found guilty in relation to the other.

The case was referred to Crown Court for a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to strip Pakkos of his gains.

Wood Green Crown Court heard that he made in excess of £225,000 profit. The court granted a confiscation order for £141,782.

He now has six months to pay or faces two years in prison. Haringey Council will receive £26,584.29, representing 18.5% of the order.

Cllr Nilgun Canver, Haringey’s cabinet member for the environment, said: “Rogue landlords who think that they can get away with making shoddy conversions for rent should know that we will take action – not only to reverse their poor developments but also to make sure that they don’t benefit from breaking the law.”

The flats will have to be converted back into single houses.

Pakkos and Cybergate Developments were each also fined £500.

In an unrelated case, a landlord who unlawfully converted a house into nine flats was hit with a £15,495 penalty at Enfield and Haringey Magistrates Court.

Andreas Antoniades first converted the house in north London into nine flats in 2011 without planning permission. The council told him to return the property back into a single house later that year, which he did.

However, subsequent inspections in 2012 found the house being re-converted into flats, in breach of an earlier enforcement notice. The owner was warned about this and said he would halt the conversions, but further site visits showed the property was in use as nine rental flats.

Antoniades pleaded guilty to breaching an enforcement order and was fined £13,500 with costs of £1,980 and victim surcharge of £15.