A Southwark landlord who illegally converted a basement in his home to three lets has been ordered to pay back gains of just over £42,600 and to pay a further £10,000 in fines and costs.

Action was taken against Mawan Musa, of Maude Road, Camberwell, when Southwark Council planning enforcement team discovered the illegal and sub-standard development had not been removed.

When he appeared at the Inner London Crown Court earlier this month, Musa accepted that he had breached planning rules by creating the basement flats and had also added a haphazard and sub-standard rear window extension, on the roof of another property.

Southwark councillor James McAsh, cabinet member for climate emergency and sustainable development, said Musa had made ‘a shameless attempt to shoehorn three tiny flats into one basement, along with an illegal roof extension’.

The outcome of Southwark’s action, resulting in a repayment and fine and in the flats being made compliant with planning permission, ‘serves as a warning that we will not tolerate planning breaches’, he said. ‘It also supports us in cracking down on those who try to benefit from renting illegal and sub-standard properties’.