Illegal flats demolished
LANDLORD FACED JAIL UNLESS UNAUTHORISED PENTHOUSES REMOVED
TWO illegal penthouse apartments have been torn down after the landlord was told he would face jail if they were not demolished.
In January, Munjit Dulay was given a four-month jail sentence, suspended for six months, after a trial at Leicester County Court.
Judge Richard Hedley told Dulay the flats had to be demolished by July 17 or the sentence would be activated.
The court heard Dulay’s company, MB Estates, bought St Clements Court, in Fosse Lane, New Parks, Leicester, in 2012, turning the former care home into 74 flats.
Dulay then built penthouse flats on top of two of the apartment blocks without applying for planning permission – bringing in £1,000 a month in rent between them.
Leicester City Council took action against MB Estates, which ignored demands that the flats be gone by March 6, 2018.
The council got a court order in May 2019, with a district judge demanding the penthouses be torn down.
Dulay promised the court he would get the penthouses demolished. However, he re-let both of the apartments at least once and collected £455 a month for one and £600 a month for the other.
Earlier this year, Jonathan Manning, barrister for the city council, told the court: “This has now been going on a very long time.
“It’s not really suggested anything was done to comply with the injunction and it was only in August he accepted that he was going to have to demolish those properties at all.
“The company has been renting the penthouses and stringing along the authority and the court while taking no steps to demolish the penthouses.
“Mr Dulay and his company have never taken seriously the requirement to demolish the properties or comply with the order.”
Deputy mayor Councillor Piara Singh Clair said: “Thanks to the persistence of council officers this matter has finally been resolved and the owner has removed what was a very poor development, built without planning permission in a flagrant breach of planning control.
“This case shows that ignoring and seeking to evade enforcement proceedings will lead to consequences such as large fines and potentially a prison sentence if the council’s requirements are not followed.”
MB Estates was fined £25,000, with Dulay paying the city council’s legal costs of £4,129.