A family from Hanwell has been ordered to pay more than £900,000 after a court found they had breached planning enforcement notices over an unauthorised property conversion.
At Isleworth Crown Court on 16 October 2025, Jagdishbhai Patel, Minaxiben Patel and their son Alpesh Patel, all of Greenford Avenue in Hanwell, and their daughter Parul Patel, of Langdale Gardens in Perivale, were ordered to pay a total of £929,621.11. The sum includes a confiscation order, fines, a victim surcharge and prosecution costs.
The proceedings follow two planning enforcement notices served in August 2019 relating to extensions carried out without permission at another property owned by the family in Greenford Avenue, Hanwell. One notice required the owners to stop using an outbuilding at the rear as a self-contained flat. The other required them to cease using the first and second floors as four self-contained flats, including instructions to remove kitchen and bathroom facilities.
An appeal against one of the notices was rejected by the Planning Inspectorate, and the owners were told to return the property to its previous state by October 2020. After warning letters were ignored, council officers visited under warrant in April 2022 and found the property was still not compliant, with the flats and outbuilding being let to tenants.
All four owners were summoned to court in January 2023 but failed to appear. They later pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the requirements of both enforcement notices, though attempts to change their pleas and missed hearings led to further delays. During a further enforcement visit in July 2025, the council said the owners had still not complied; council tax records showed all five dwellings remained occupied and that rental income continued to be received.
At the October hearing, a confiscation order of £900,217.11 was imposed on Jagdishbhai and Minaxiben Patel. They were also fined £4,500 each, ordered to pay £8,000 each in legal costs and a victim surcharge of £181 each. Alpesh and Parul Patel were ordered to pay £2,000 each in costs and victim surcharges of £21 each after the court found them less culpable.
The council warned that further action could follow if the original enforcement notices are not met. It said it had tightened planning controls across the borough last month (November 2025), requiring all new houses in multiple occupation to apply for planning permission.
The council’s cabinet member for good growth and new homes, Shital Manro, said: “The outcome of this prosecution sends a clear message that we will not tolerate illegal property conversions that undermine our planning system and put residents at risk.”
