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Rogue Dudley landlord gets £12,000 fine over huge shipping container on land

A millionaire rogue landlord has been ordered to pay more than £12,000 after storing a huge shipping container on his land without permission.

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Latif ur Rehman has been ordered to pay £12,000

Latif ur Rehman was hit in the pocket just two months after he was made to pay £350,000 for converting four homes in Dudley into 17 cramped flats and bedsits without planning permission.

The landlord from Harborne, Birmingham, found himself back in court over the container and pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a single enforcement notice issued by Dudley Council.

Magistrates heard the authority took action following a complaint about the bright orange shipping container which was being used for storage for a shop on land owned by Rehman, 58, in Wolverhampton Street, Dudley.

Two planning applications submitted retrospectively - seeking permission to retain the shipping container on site - were refused by the council, the court heard.

Rehman ignored enforcement notices issued by Dudley Council to remove the container from his land by September this year and was issued with a court summons.

He was fined £12,000 at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court and ordered to pay the council’s legal costs of £620.48.

Councillor Ian Kettle, cabinet member for planning and regeneration, said: “We welcome the sentence of the court, following another long and protracted battle to get Mr Rehman to comply with planning laws.

“We hope this sentence, the second against the same person in the space of three months, will send out a strong message to landlords in the Dudley borough and beyond.

“Failing to comply with planning laws most certainly does not pay, and, as in the case of Mr Rehman, will most likely end up with a court date and a hefty bill.”

In October, a judge was told how a ‘squalid’ rundown property owned by the millionaire landlord was shut by police after complaints of anti-social behaviour and crime.